Malaysia's manufacturing sales value rose 7.8 percent in September from a year earlier, official data showed today.

Sales rose to RM27.6 billion, the highest level since March 2001, the Department of Statistics said.

The September manufacturing sales also improved marginally by 0.7 percent from the previous month of August, the department said in a statement.

Analysts said the figures reflected the country's economic recovery was well on track.

"Judging from these figures, it is in line with expectations that the growth for the third quarter will be much higher than the second quarter," an analyst with a local brokerage told AFP .

However, she said, "we remain cautious about the fourth quarter in view of uncertainties in the global economy and the slowing of momentum in US recovery."

In August, manufacturing sales rose 4.6 percent year-on-year and were 3.4 percent higher compared with July, according to statistics released last month.

Employment declined

National Economic Action Council executive director Mustapa Mohamed has said Malaysia was maintaining growth forecasts of 4.0 percent for 2002 and 6.0-6.5 percent next year despite market concerns arising from the Bali bomb blast and a possible US attack on Iraq.

Employment in September declined by 0.3 percent from 988,768 people reported at the end of August.

The number of employees hired by the manufacturing sector also contracted by 1.5 percent in September.

Total salaries and wages in September rose 5.5 percent year-on-year to 1.53 billion ringgit, 0.03 percent higher from a month earlier.

In the nine months to September, the manufacturing sector posted sales of 228.5 billion ringgit, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier.

During the nine months, total salaries and wages fell 0.08 percent to 13,41 billion ringgit, it said. — AFP