PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) measuring headline inflation rose lower than expected 3.7% in October, compared with a Bloomberg survey of 4.1%, due to higher transport costs.
Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel, rose 2.3% in October 2017 compared with the same month of the previous year.
The Statistics Department said on Friday the Consuer Price Index’s (CPI) rose at a higher rate of 3.7% to 120.0 in October 2017 from 115.7 in the corresponding month of the preceding year.
It said among the major groups which recorded increases were the indices for transport (+12.1%), food & non-alcoholic beverages (+4.4%), restaurants and hotels (+2.7%), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (+2.6%), health (+2.4%) and housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+2.4%).
The department said the index of transport group showed a significant increase of 12.1% on a year-on-year basis in October 2017, after rising 15.8% in September 2017.
“The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol was RM2.18 in October 2017 compared to RM1.80 in October 2016. As for RON97, the average price increased to RM2.48 in October 2017 compared to RM2.15 in October 2016.
“Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8% of the CPI weights,” it said.
As for the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages which accounted 30.2% in the CPI weights, increased 4.4% in October 2017.
On a monthly basis, the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages decreased to 129.4 in October 2017 as compared to September 2017.
CPI for the period January to October 2017 registered an increase of 4.0% compared with the same period last year. The index for food & non-alcoholic beverages was the main contributor to the rise in CPI for the period January to October 2017, registering an increase of 4.3%.
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