Malaysian industrial output rose 0.7 percent year-on-year in October, in its first uptick since September 2008, according to official data released today.

"The increase in October 2009 was due to the increases in the two indices - manufacturing (1.0 percent) and electricity (13.4 percent)," the government's statistics department said in a statement.

Revised figures showed industrial output sank 6.0 percent in September year-on-year.

The department said manufacturing rose 1.0 percent in October from a year ago due to demand for mineral, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products amid signs of recovery for the global economy.

Mining dropped 2.7 percent year on year due to lower prices of crude oil, while the electricity sector increased 13.4 percent.

Malaysia's export-dependent economy has been hit hard by the global recession, contracting by a forecast 3.0 percent this year and jeopardising its ambitions of becoming a developed nation by 2020.

Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah recently warned that Malaysia's economy had been stagnating for the past decade and was trailing badly behind its neighbours.

- AFP