The FINANCIAL — Malaysia’s consumer-price index, the country’s main gauge of inflation, rose 2.5% in June from a year earlier, mainly driven by costlier food, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and health care, official data showed on July 15, according to Nasdaq.
A poll of seven economists conducted by The Wall Street Journal had predicted a median increase of 2.4% from a year earlier. In May, CPI grew 2.1% from a year earlier.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI was up 0.6% in June from May, the Department of Statistics said in a statement.
The rise in CPI was led by the alcoholic beverages and tobacco group, which surged 11.3%, while food and non-alcoholic beverages, which make up 30% of the CPI weightage, rose up 3.4%. Health care prices rose 5.0% in June.
On a month-on-month basis, the accelerating inflation in June was led by the transport subindex, which gained 3.0%, while the food and non-alcoholic beverage component was up 0.4% from May.
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