Bank Negara Sets November 5 for Next Malaysian Rate Decision
Key Facts
Bank Negara Malaysia has set November 5, 2026, for the next meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee, with the monetary policy statement due at 3:00 p.m. local time the same day. The meeting comes with the overnight policy rate at 2.75%, the level recorded on September 3. The bank left the rate unchanged in its five recorded decisions from January 22 to September 3. Those decisions put the year's monetary policy path in context for the upcoming meeting. Headline inflation was 1.8% in September, while the economy grew 6.0% in the second quarter.
Available economic data point to continued activity growth, with the pace varying across quarters and sector indicators. The advance estimate showed the Malaysian economy grew 5.3% in the third quarter, after expanding 6.0% in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the manufacturing sector expanded 7.5%. On a monthly basis, the industrial production index rose 5.0% year on year in August, while manufacturing output growth accelerated to 7.4% from 6.4% in July. These figures provide economic background for the November meeting, alongside price and industrial activity data.
Industrial sales data show accelerating growth in August: manufacturing sales totaled 185.0 billion ringgit, up 9.9% year on year, compared with 9.1% growth in July. Sales in export-oriented industries rose 12.1% year on year and accounted for 73.6% of total sector sales that month. These figures put exports at the center of the industrial sales activity recorded in August. Comparing sales growth in July and August also offers a monthly view of the sector's changing pace, alongside production data that recorded annual growth in the same month.
The manufacturing purchasing managers' index is measured through surveys of about 400 manufacturing companies, according to S&P Global's methodology. A reading above 50 signals overall improvement from the previous month, while the threshold indicates the direction of activity rather than the production growth rate itself. The available information does not include Malaysia's October reading or details of its components, such as new orders, output, employment and prices. It therefore cannot establish that the sector returned to expansion in October or determine whether external demand was the driver. Data from previous months and the quarterly estimate remain the basis for the industrial context available here.
Malaysia's Department of Statistics is scheduled to release the next monthly manufacturing statistics on November 10, 2026, after Bank Negara's November 5 meeting. The release will update monthly sales and manufacturing data after the bank publishes its monetary statement at 3:00 p.m. on the meeting day. The bank kept the rate at 2.75% in its five recorded decisions through September 3, but the available information does not include a documented forecast for the November decision. The rate announced in September remains the official level cited in the available data. The next scheduled reading on manufacturing activity is due November 10.