Jan 21, 2010
Malaysia's inflation up 1.1% in December
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.1% year-on-year in December, the first increase in seven months.
Compared with the previous month, the CPI increased by 0.2%, the Statistics Department said yesterday.
The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages in December increased 1.1% from a year earlier, while the index for non-food items decreased by 1.1%.
The Statistics Department said the 1.1% increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of transport (-9.4%), clothing and footwear (-0.9%) and communication (-0.5%). Notable increases among these main groups with high weights were food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.1%) as well as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+1.4%).
The CPI from January to December increased 0.6% to 112.1 compared with the previous corresponding period.
TA Research economist Patricia Oh said the upward trend in CPI was largely due to the elimination of base effects from the over 40% fuel price hike in June 2008. “We expect price levels to be on the upward trend this year,” she said. She projects CPI to be 1.2% for this year, taking into account the rise in sugar price.
For reports from the Statistics Department click here
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