Kuala Lumpur - XINHUA
Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) in October grew a stronger-than-expected 1. 7 percent on-year following a rebound in manufacturing, official statistics showed on Wednesday. The Statistics Department said the October IPI was boosted by manufacturing, which rose 3.3 percent and electricity, up 4.8 percent. It said September's IPI was unchanged at 1.0 percent on- year. "In seasonally adjusted terms, the IPI in October 2013 increased by 1.9 percent month-on-month. The increase was particularly due to the increases of manufacturing index and mining index of 0.8 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively." The department said on a yearly basis, manufacturing output rose 3.3 percent in October 2013 following an increase of 2.4 percent in September 2013. Major sub-sectors which saw increases in October 2013 were electrical and electronics products (14.3 percent); transport equipment and other manufactures (15.1 percent) and textiles, wearing apparel, leather products and footwear (9.4 percent).