Consumer price index rose 4.3pct in Sept

Malaysia's Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, rose 4.3 percent to 120.3 on a year-on-year basis in Sept 2017 from 115.3 previously.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department said several major indices had recorded increases, including food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.6 percent), restaurants and hotels (2.6 percent), health (2.5 percent), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.8 percent), and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (2.4 percent).

Meanwhile, the transport group index also showed a significant increase of 15.8 percent on a yoy basis in September 2017, following the 11.7 percent rise in Aug 2017.

It said fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8 percent of the CPI weight.

The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol rose to RM2.19 in September 2017 compared to RM1.70 in September 2016. For RON97, the average price rose to RM2.48 in September 2017 yoy compared to RM2.05 previously.

On another note, six states recorded higher increases yoy for the food and non-alcoholic beverages index in September 2017, rising by 5.3 percent in Johor, Melaka (5.8 percent), Penang (5.2 percent), Sabah and Labuan (5.3 percent), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (4.7 percent) and Kedah and Perlis (5 percent).

It said based on a seasonally-adjusted term, the overall CPI for September 2017 increased 0.3 percent compared to the previous month, while core inflation rose 2.4 percent yoy.

Among the major groups which influenced the higher core inflation rate were rise in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.5 percent), transport (2.1 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (2.8 percent), restaurants and hotels (2.6 percent ), health (2.5 percent ) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.8 percent).

- Bernama