November 2016 IPI growth beats expectations

KUALA LUMPUR: The Industrial Production Index (IPI) for November 2016 has exceeded economists’ expectations.

The index grew 6.2% in November 2016 against the same month last year, much higher than the average forecast of 5.5% by the 19 economists polled by Bloomberg.

“The strong growth of the IPI was attributed by higher indices in all sectors manufacturing (6.5%), mining (4.7%) and electricity (9.7%),” the Statistics Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Manufacturing sector output grew significantly by 6.5% in November 2016 after an increase of 4.2% in October 2016. The expansion was mainly due to higher growth in major subsectors namely: petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (6.1%); electrical and electronics products (8.9%) and food, beverages and tobacco (10.4%).

Meanwhile, the mining sector output expanded 4.7% in November 2016 after registering an increased of 3.5% in October 2016 due to the increased in natural gas index by 13.2%. However, the crude oil index declined by 1.9%.

The electricity sector output expanded by 9.7% in November 2016 following an increase of 6.9% in October 2016.