Higher food, fuel costs push up November inflation

Higher fuel prices due to the rebound in crude oil prices also impacted the transport group.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation rate or consumer price index (CPI) for November 2017 rose 3.4% from a year ago due to higher transport and food costs – but the rate was in line with a survey.

The Statistics Department said on Wednesday that based on a seasonally adjusted term, the overall CPI for November 2017 increased 0.7% as compared to October 2017. Core inflation rose 2.2% in November versus a year ago. 

The CPI for January to November 2017 increased by 3.9% compared with the previous corresponding period.

The department said among the major groups which recorded increases in November were the indices for transport (+10.8%); food & non-alcoholic beverages (+4.0%); restaurants and hotels (+2.8%), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (+2.5%), health (+2.2%) and housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+2.2%).

Higher fuel prices due to the rebound in crude oil prices also impacted the transport group. It rose  10.8% on a year-on-year basis in November 2017, after rising 12.1% in October 2017. 

The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol was RM2.30 in November 2017 as compared to RM1.95 a year ago.

As for RON97, the average price increased to RM2.59 in November 2017 from RM2.30 a year ago. Fuels & lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8% of the CPI weights.

The department also pointed out the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages which accounted 30.2% in the CPI weights, increased 4% in November 2017. 

The increase was driven by food sub-group index which comprised of fish & seafood (+7.6%), fruits (+4.2%), vegetables (+3.2%) and meat (+2.9%). 

As for food away from home index, it continued to rise in November 2017, up by 5%.