Malaysia July annual inflation at 3.2 pct, slightly below forecast

by **Cals** Wed 20 Aug 2014, 22:25

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Reuters

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 17:05

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Malaysia's consumer price index in July rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier, marginally below expectations and easing slightly from a month ago, data from the Statistics Department showed on Wednesday.

The index rose 3.3 percent in June.

A Reuters poll of 15 economists had forecast the annual inflation rate in July to hold steady at 3.3 percent.

Last week, Malaysia's central bank said it expects inflation to remain between three to four percent, with the long-term average at 3 percent.

The monthly inflation rate has risen sharply since last year after the government cut subsidies, raising the prices of fuel, electricity and sugar.

Inflation hit a 32-month high of 3.5 percent in February before easing slowly in the following months as prices begin to moderate.

MALAYSIA CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (base 2010)
PERCENTAGE CHANGE
	Jul	June	May	Apr	Mar	Feb	Jan	Dec	Nov	Oct	Sept	Aug
yr/yr	3.2	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.5	3.5	3.4	3.2	2.9	2.8	2.6	1.9
mth/mth	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.8	0.1

July 2014 (percentage change year-on-year)
Food, non-alcoholic beverage	3.1
Alcoholic beverages, tobacco	11.6
Clothing, footwear	-0.2
Housing, water, electricity, fuels	3.2
Furnishings, household equipment	0.8
Health	3.3
Transport	5.4/div>
Communication	-0.7
Recreation services, culture	1.9
Education	2.3
Restaurants, hotels	5.0
Miscellaneous goods/services	1.4

Weightings/contribution to the June 2014 CPI Components (percentage change year-on-year)
Components	Weightings	Contribution(pct)
Food, non-alcoholic beverage	30.3	32.0
Alcoholic beverages, tobacco	2.2	8.2
Clothing, footwear	3.4	-0.3
Housing, water, electricity, fuels	22.6	22.5
Furnishings, household equipment	4.1	1.1
Health	1.3	1.4
Transport	14.9	25.5
Communication	5.7	-1.2
Recreation services, culture	4.6	2.6
Education	1.4	1.0
Restaurants, hotels	3.2	5.2
Miscellaneous goods/services	6.3	2.0