CPI rises 3.9 per cent in May

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.9 per cent on a year-on-year (yo-y) basis in May 2017 compared with the 4.4 per cent increase in April.

However, core inflation remained stable at 2.6 per cent, said the Statistics Department in a statement yesterday.

Among the major groups which recorded increases were the transport index and the food and non-alcoholic beverages index.

The department said the transport group index showed a significant increase of 13.1 per cent, y-o-y in May, after rising 16.7 per cent in April.

The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol was RM2.09 in May compared with RM1.70 in the same month of last year, while the average price for RON97 increased to RM2.37 against RM2.05.

Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8 per cent of the CPI weights.

During the month, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which accounted for 30.2 per cent in the CPI weights, increased 4.4 per cent, fuelled by the food sub-group such as oils and fats, vegetables, fish and seafood.

The department said the increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages was reflected in most states, especially in highly urbanised Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Penang, Johor and Melaka.

For January to May 2017, it said the CPI increased 4.3 per cent compared with the same period last year, mainly due to an increase in the food and nonalcoholic beverages index, which rose 4.1 per cent. — Bernama SHORT-TERM rates closed on stable note yesterday on Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) intervention to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system.

The liquidity surplus in the conventional system fell to RM31.90 billion from 34.74 billion in the morning, while in THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed lower yesterday at US$19,550 per tonne, down US$99, and weighed on by the fall in the tin price on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

The LME tin price fell US$80 to US$19,505 a tonne.

A dealer said buyers were seen