Malaysia's inflation increases 0.9% in July

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued to expand at a slower rate of 0.9% in July after the 0.8% growth rate recorded in June.
According to the Department of Statistics, the sectors which saw a price increase were transport (+6.7%); housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+2%); education (+1%); restaurants & hotels (+1%); and food & non-alcoholic beverages (+0.7%).
Clothing and footwear(-3%); communication(-3.9%); miscellaneous goods and services (-3%); furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-1.7%); and alcoholic beverage and tobacco (-0.8%) were the segments that saw a decrease in prices. The healthcare segment remained unchanged.
Chief Statistician of Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said on a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.2% as compared with June 2018.
For the first seven months of 2018, the CPI registered an increase of 1.4% against the same period last year.
In terms of overall CPI, four states surpassed the national CPI rate of 0.9 % in July 2018, namely Negeri Sembilan (+1.3%), Selangor & Putrajaya (+1.2%), Kuala Lumpur (+1.1 %) and Johor (+1%).
While most states showed an increase in the index for food & non-alcoholic beverage, Kuala Lumpur (+3.5%) and Sarawak (+0.9%) were the two states that recorded higher increases above the national level of 0.7%.