Categories
Economics

[2078] Of a good sign?

I should really be at University Library right now but I just could not resist blogging about this.

The latest Industrial Production Index produced by the Department of Statistics has it that electricity output increased and more importantly, it increased based on year-on-year basis in July 2009. This means, electricity output has been increasing on year-on-year basis for two consecutive months. It first registered positive year-on-year growth in June 2009 after months of output reduction. This is another blow to government spending-based stimulus advocates because it indicates that the economy is recovering well before the effect of stimulus spending comes into play.

Electricity output, or rather consumption (but really, the two should be almost the same) has been argued as a good indicator of economic performance. See this. The following table is taken from the Department of Statistics.

Sectors

Index July 2009

% Changes Year-on-Year

% Changes Month-on-Month

IPI

104.8

-8.4

7.1

Mining index

99.6

-1.9

10.0

Manufacturing index

106.2

-12.0

6.2

Electricity index

118.7

3.1

3.5

I will blog about this later. For now, I need to make a dash to the University, which is, like, 100 meters away. Oh, so far away!

Heh. I love my life.

Categories
Economics

[1363] Of a sensible policy on electricity

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 (Bernama) — Independent power producers (IPPs) could end up supplying power to an electricity exchange instead of directly to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) once the current power purchase agreements (PPAs) expire, said Minister of Energy, Water and Communications Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

[…]

Dr Lim said under the proposed exchange, TNB would buy electricity from the most cost-effective power producers. [Govt Mulls Electricity Exchange For TNB. Bernama. September 11 2007.

I am excited because this suggestion provides a basis for a better policy compared to what Malaysia is having at the moment.