KL manufacturing sales fall

KL manufacturing sales fall

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's sales of manufactured goods fell 9.7 percent year-on-year in June, the Statistics Department said Thursday.

Sales for the month were valued at 26 billion ringgit (US$6.8 billion) against 28.8 billion ringgit in June last year. They were down 1.1 percent from May.

Most analysts predict the economy will grow by less than half the 8.5 percent rate of last year. The government in March revised downwards its economic growth forecast this year to between five and six percent, from seven percent previously.

The department of statistics said the number of people working in the manufacturing sector fell 0.7 percent over the year to June.

In a separate report, the department said inflation in Malaysia rose 1.4 percent year-on-year in July.

In the seven months to July, inflation rose 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year.