October CPI increases 0.6 per cent

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, increased 0.6 per cent in October 2018 to 120.7 from 120.0 in the corresponding month of the preceding year.

The Department of Statistics (DoS) said the increase in the overall index was due to higher price for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.1 per cent), food & nonalcoholic beverages (+1.2 per cent), restaurants & hotels (+1.2 per cent), education (+1.1 per cent), and transport (+0.8 per cent).

“On a monthly basis, CPI increased 0.2 per cent compared with September 2018. CPI for the period January-October 2018 registered an increase of 1.1 per cent compared with the same period last year,” Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement yesterday.

The DoS said in terms of overall CPI, four states surpassed the national CPI rate of 0.6 per cent in October 2018 compared with October 2017.

The states were Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur (+1.3 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (+1.1 per cent), Selangor and Federal Territory Putrajaya (+0.8 per cent) and Penang (+0.7 per cent). Johor showed the same rate as the national CPI.

Meanwhile, the DoS said a higher increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages was reflected in most states.

“Three states recorded higher increases for food and nonalcoholic beverages index above the national index level (+1.2 per cent) in October 2018 compared with the same corresponding month in 2017.

“The index for food and nonalcoholic beverages rose 4.5 per cent in Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur, followed by Negeri Sembilan (+1.6 per cent), Selangor and Federal Territory Putrajaya (1.4 per cent), while Penang recorded the same rate as the national CPI of this main group,” Mohd Uzir said. — Bernama