Malaysia’s inflation rate meets forecast

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia´s consumer price index in July rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier, up marginally from the previous month, government data showed on Friday.

The annual inflation rate was in line with a Reuters poll forecast, and up slightly from the 0.8 percent recorded in June. June´s inflation rate was the lowest in three years, following the government´s removal of a 6 percent goods and services tax that month.

In July, inflation was driven mainly by higher transport prices with the sectoral index rising 6.7 percent from a year earlier, the Statistics Department said in a statement. Overall inflation, however, remained subdued with marginal increases posted by the indexes for housing, education, hotels, food and non-alcoholic beverages, data from the department showed.

Costs were down across all other sectors, with the communications and clothing indexes falling 3.9 percent and 3.0 percent respectively, the data showed. Malaysia´s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged in its July 11 review, citing slowing inflation and steady economic growth.

Headline inflation slowed to 1.3 percent in the second quarter and was expected to moderate further throughout the year.