CPI rises 4.3 pct yoy in September 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, rose 4.3 per cent to 120.3 on a year-on-year (yoy) basis in September 2017 from 115.3 previously.

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

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

It said fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8 per cent of the CPI weights.

The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol rose to RM2.19 in September 2017 compared with 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 nonalcoholic beverages index in September 2017, rising by 5.3 per cent in Johor, Melaka (5.8 per cent), Penang (5.2 per cent), Sabah and Labuan (5.3 per cent), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (4.7 per cent) and Kedah and Perlis (5.0 per cent).

It said based on a seasonally-adjusted term, the overall CPI for September 2017 increased 0.3 per cent compared with the previous month, while core inflation rose 2.4 per cent 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 per cent), transport (+2.1 per cent ), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.8 per cent), restaurants and hotels (+2.6 per cent ), health (+2.5 per cent ) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+2.8 per cent), it said. — Bernama