NOVEMBER CPI RISES 3.4PC
Increase led mostly by transport, food and non-alcoholic beverages indices
THE Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, rose 3.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis last month, mostly due to fuel price increases.
The Statistics Department said the growth was led by transport (10.8 per cent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.0 per cent) indices.
For the transport group, the increase followed the hike in fuel prices. The average price of RON95 petrol was RM2.30 a litre last month against RM1.95 a litre in November last year.
As for RON97, the average price increased to RM2.59 a litre last month compared with RM2.30 in November last year.
Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8 per cent of the CPI weight, it added.
On food items, which recorded notable increases compared with a year ago, the department said cuttlefish and long beans accounted for the strongest increases at 13.5 and 13.4 per cent, respectively.
In terms of overall CPI, several states surpassed the national CPI rate of 3.4 per cent, namely Johor, Melaka, Kedah and Perlis, Selangor and the Federal Territory of Putraja, and Penang.
Based on a seasonally adjusted term, the overall CPI for last month rose 0.7 per cent compared with October this year.
Core inflation rose 2.2 per cent last month compared with the same month last year.
For the first 11 months of this year, the CPI rose 3.9 per cent compared with a year ago.
Alliance Bank said the inflationary trend remains high as the three-month moving average was 3.8 per cent last month.
Based on the 0.7 per cent growth last month, it said the lower inflation figure may be due to a high base effect.
The increase in the prices of vegetables and fish during the month was due to the flood disasters in several states last month.
Retail pump prices also rose with RON95, averaging at RM2.31 a litre last month, reaching an alltime high of RM2.38 a litre during the month.
The bank expects inflation to remain elevated this month, in view of persisting inflationary pressures in the transport sector, due to higher Brent crude oil prices, which averaged US$63.10 (RM257.04) a barrel .