February CPI rises by 1.4 per cent

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, rose by 1.4 per cent in February 2018 from the corresponding month of the preceding year, mainly due to food and beverages as well as furnishings and household equipment.

Among the major groups which recorded increases were the indices for health (+2.1 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.0 per cent) as well as restaurants and hotels (+1.8per cent),” the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, the index for January to February 2018 recorded an increase of 2.0 per cent as compared to the same month last year, it said in a statement.

The overall index was also affected by the drop in the transport group by 0.3 per cent in February.

“Other groups which also showed decreases were clothing and footwear (-0.7 per cent ) and communication (-0.5 per cent ),” said the DoS.

The index for Melaka increased by 1.8 per cent, followed by Selangor and Federal Territory (FT) Putrajaya (+1.7 per cent), Johor (+1.5 per cent) and Sabah and FT Labuan (+1.5 per cent).

Meanwhile, the index for food, non-alcoholic beverages rose 4.2 per cent in FT Kuala Lumpur, 3.9 per cent in Sabah and FT Labuan, 3.6 per cent in Johor, 3.2 per cent in Penang, 3.1 per cent in Sarawak and 3.1 per cent in Melaka. — Bernama