Malaysian manufacturing sector sales up 6.6 pct in April

Sales value of the Malaysian manufacturing sector expanded by 6.6 percent in April on a year-on- year basis, Malaysian Department of Statistics said Friday.

The sales value stood at 40.2 billion ringgit (10.86 billion U. S. dollars) this April, registering a decrease of 5.9 percent compared with the previous month, the department said in its latest release.

Compared with the same period last year, the number of employees engaged in the sector rose by 6.6 percent to 1,058,347 persons.

Total salaries and wages paid in the month grew by 7.6 percent to 1,822.2 million ringgit (492.48 million U.S. dollars), said the department.

On a month-on-month basis, the number of employees engaged expanded by 0.6 percent in April while the salaries and wages paid dropped by 0.5 percent.

In the first four months of the year 2006, the manufacturing sector registered a total sales value worth 157.2 billion ringgit (42.48 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 8.4 percent over the same period last year, the department said.

Source: Xinhua