Consumer Price Index climbs 1.4% in April

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, increased by 1.4% in April 2018 compared with the corresponding month last year.

In a statement, the Department of Statistics (DoS) said the major groups which recorded increases were the indices for food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.6%), restaurants and hotels (2.2%), health (2.1%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (2%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.8%) and education (1.1%).

The department said the CPI for the January-April 2018 period also increased by 1.7% year-on-year (y-o-y). Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the overall index in April 2018 was also affected by the 0.4% increase in the transport group, compared with the 1.5% decrease in March 2018. In terms of the overall CPI, three states had surpassed the national CPI rate of 1.4% in the month under review – Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (1.9%), Selangor and Federal Territory of Putrajaya (1.6 %) and Penang (1.5%). The department also reported an increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic bever- ages in most states.

Three states recorded y-o-y increases for the food and non-alcoholic beverages index above the national index level of 2.6% Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (4.4%), Penang (3%) and Sabah and Federal Territory of Labuan (2.9 %). — Bernama