Manufacturing sales increase 4.6pc to RM27b

(New Straits Times)

MALAYSIAN manufacturing sales rose 4.6 per cent to RM27.1 billion in August from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday.

According to the Statistics Department, the August sales also expanded by 3.4 per cent from the previous month of July.

Analysts said the figures reflect the country’s economic recovery is gathering strength.

“Judging from these figures, it will surely help to strengthen the Malaysian economy for the third quarter,” an analyst with a local brokerage said.

In July, manufacturing sales rose 2 per cent year-on-year and was 0.4 per cent higher compared with June, according to statistics released last month.

National Economic Action Council executive director Datuk Mustapa Mohamed had said Malaysia maintained growth forecasts of 4 per cent for 2002 and 6-6.5 per cent in 2003 despite market concerns arising from the Bali bomb blasts and a possible US attack on Iraq.

Employment in August improved marginally by 0.01 per cent to 987,386 compared with the previous month, which one analyst said would help boost consumer spending.

But the department said the number of employees hired by the manufacturing sector contracted 2.1 per cent year-on-year at end-August.

Total salaries and wages in August rose 5.5 per cent year-on-year to RM1.53 billion but declined by 1.3 per cent from a month earlier.

In the eight months to August, the manufacturing sector posted sales of RM200.7 billion, down 4.2 per cent from a year earlier.

During the eight months, total salaries and wages paid fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year to RM11.88 billion, it said. — AFP