KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia witnessed encouraging economic performance in July 2024, with the leading index (LI) registering 5.2 per cent, reaching 115.1 points as compared to 109.4 points in the same month of the previous year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM). Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was driven by the real imports of semiconductors, which surged by 36.7 per cent, and the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index rose by 35.4 per cent. He said the LI's monthly performance also showed a positive rebound by registering 1.1 per cent in July 2024, compared to a 0.4 per cent decline in June 2024. 'The real imports of semiconductors (1.0 per cent) contributed the most to this growth, indicating a resurgence in the technology sector and related industries. 'At the smoothed long-term trend in July 2024, LI consistently exceeded 100.0 points, illustrating a resilient Malaysian economy supported by positive expansion in domestic consumption and continued demand by external markets,' he said in a statement today. Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the coincident index (CI) also demonstrated consistent growth with an increase of 2.8 per cent in July 2024, reaching 127.3 points compared to 123.8 points in the same month of the previous year. 'The overall increase in the CI is attributed to improvement across all components,' the chief statistician said. Mohd Uzir added that similarly, the CI's monthly performance inched up by 0.7 per cent, which was contributed by all components except the Volume Index of Retail Trade (-0.1 per cent). Source: BERNAMA News Agency