Malaysia

Malaysia's manufacturing sector overcame the negative impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in the region and posted an unexpected growth in output in April, according to reports released by the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority earlier this month.

Bucking predictions of local analysts, the industrial production index in April rose 11.8 percent year-on-year, the highest growth since December 2000 when the index grew 13.8 percent.

Local economists said strong domestic demand in the prperty sector raised demand for construction-related goods and boosted the manufacturing sector. The impact of SARS was reportedly harsher on the travel and tourism industries.

For April, the IPI climbed 11.8 percent at 210.7 compared with 188.5 for the same month last year, fuelled by growth in the indices of all sectors. Among the major sectoral indices, manufacturing grew 12.7 percent, mining by 9.8 percent, and electricity by 7 percent.

For the first four months of the year, the index rose 8.4 percent to 196.8 from 181.5 the previous period, according to the statistics department, which noted that the growth was in line with a rise in the manufacturing, electricity, and mining sectors.

From January to April, the manufacturing sector index surged 8.9 percent to 213.9 from 196.4 a year ago, the electricity sector index by 7.3 percent to 233.5 from 217.6, and the mining sector index by 6.7 percent to 130.1 from 121.9

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