Malaysia’s leading economic index fell 0.5% month-on-month in May 2026, overturning a downwardly revised 1.1% increase in April. This marked the first decline in three months and the sharpest drop since January, driven mainly by weaker real imports of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals (-0.6% vs -0.3% in May), a fall in the number of approved housing units (-0.2% vs 0.1%), and a decline in the number of newly registered companies (-0.4% vs 0.9%).
Partly offsetting these weaknesses, real imports of semiconductors continued to grow (0.2% vs 0.9% in April), and the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index posted another gain (0.1% vs 0.1%). In addition, real money supply M1 rebounded (0.2% vs -0.3%), as did the expected sales value in manufacturing (0.2% vs -0.3%).
On a yearly basis, the leading index rose 0.3%, easing from 1.3% in April. At the same time, the coincident index, which tracks current economic conditions, declined 0.3% month-on-month, reversing a 0.9% increase in April.
