Malaysia Industrial Output Growth Eases

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's industrial output growth moderated in April amid contractions in the mining and electricity sectors, figures from the Department of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

Industrial production climbed 2.7 percent year-over-year in April, slower than the 3.2 percent increase in the previous month. Production has been rising since January 2024.

Among sectors, mining activity shrank 6.3 percent annually in April, reversing a 1.9 percent recovery in March. Electricity production was 1.6 percent lower, while manufacturing growth accelerated to 5.6 percent from 4.0 percent.

On a monthly basis, industrial output plunged 8.0 percent in April, in contrast to a 9.3 percent sharp rebound in March.

Separate official data showed that the unemployment rate dropped to a 10-year low of 3.0 percent in April from 3.1 percent in March. The number of unemployed people decreased to 525,900 from 529,600 a month ago.