KUALA LUMPUR: The Leading Index (LI) increased 3.6% to 116.2 points in October 2025, from 112.2 in October 2024, signalling optimistic economic momentum ahead of 2026, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the positive performance was underpinned by strong double-digit growth in three components of the LI, namely the number of housing units approved, which grew 51.2% , real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (39.2%) and real imports of semiconductors (32.4%).
“Concurrently, the monthly performance of the LI rebounded to 2.6% in October 2025 after registering declines for two consecutive months, supported by the improved performance of the real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals, which grew 1.8%.
“This positive development reflects stronger economic momentum towards 2026,” he said in a statement today titled Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident & Lagging Indices October 2025.
The LI provides an early indication of turning points in the business cycle and the near-term direction of the economy.
Meanwhile, DoSM said that, in line with the notable improvement in the LI’s performance, the smoothed long-term trend of the LI surpassed 100.0 points in October 2025.
“Based on this scenario, the economic outlook is expected to be more optimistic in the future, supported by encouraging economic activities, particularly in imports of intermediate goods, alongside promising performance across key economic sectors, namely the services and manufacturing sectors,” it said.
According to DoSM, in assessing the current economic situation, the Coincident Index (CI) continued to record encouraging annual growth of 2.7% to 129.9 points, up from 126.5 points in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, it noted a significant 15.3% increase in real contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), reflecting stronger employee income flows and continuity in employment opportunities.
“On a monthly basis, the CI also posted positive growth of 0.6%, primarily driven by increases in the real salaries and wages in manufacturing and real contributions to the EPF, which rose by 0.2% each,” it said. – Bernama
