CPI rises by 1.4 per cent in April

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

In a statement yesterday, the Department of Statistics (DoS) said the major groups which recorded increases were the indices for food and non-alcoholic beverages (+2.6 per cent), restaurants and hotels (+2.2 per cent), health (+2.1 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.0 per cent), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+1.8 per cent) and education (+1.1 per cent).

The department said the CPI for the January-April 2018 period also increased by 1.7 per cent year-onyear (y-o-y).

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the overall index in April 2018 was also affected by the 0.4 per cent increase in the transport group, compared with the 1.5 per cent decrease in March 2018.

In terms of the overall CPI, three states had surpassed the national CPI rate of 1.4 per cent in the month under review - Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (+1.9 per cent), Selangor and Federal Territory of Putrajaya (+1.6 per cent) and Penang (+1.5 per cent).

The department also reported an increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages in most states.

Three states recorded y- o- y increases for the food and nonalcoholic beverages index above the national index level of 2.6 per cent – Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (+4.4 per cent), Penang (3.0 per cent) and Sabah and Federal Territory of Labuan (2.9 per cent). — Bernama