AmBank maintains manufacturing sector growth projection at 3.5-4.0 pct this year

02 Dec 2021

AmBank (M) Bhd has maintained its growth projection for the manufacturing sector to hover around 3.5 per cent with the upside of 4.0 per cent in the best case scenario for the full year of 2021.

“The improvement in the manufacturing sector would remain underpinned by the reopening of economies, highly performing electric and electronics, glove-maker, petroleum and chemicals subgroup; robust external demand; and elevated commodity prices,” the research firm said in a note today.

Malaysia’s manufacturing sector continued to record an advancement as the November’s headline IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) inched higher to 52.3 from 52.2 in October.

AmBank said it signals the overall improvement of the sector resulted from the lifting of the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0 restrictions, while being supported by the demand from global economies, especially from the Asia-Pacific region.

“This is despite the ongoing supply chain disruptions constraining the real manufacturing performances,” it pointed out.

AmBank said it is still on the lookout for factors that pose a significant threat to the recovery progress as they could pull the economy back to recession if they materialise.

The newly-discovered Omicron variant has become a significant risk, coupled with pressure on productions due to the ongoing supply-chain issue, it added.

Sumber: Bernama