The FINANCIAL — Malaysia’s consumer-price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1% in May from a year earlier, a tad above market expectations, mainly driven by costlier alcoholic beverages, healthcare and food, official data showed on June 19, according to Nasdaq.
The Wall Street Journal’s poll of nine economists had predicted a median increase of 2.0% year-on-year in May. In April, the CPI grew 1.8% compared with the same month last year and the index increased 0.9% in March before the so- called goods and services tax was introduced.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the index was up 0.4% in May from April, the Department of Statistics said in a statement.
The alcoholic beverages group surged 11% and healthcare cost climbed 5.0%. The restaurants and hotels index gained 4.5%, while food and non-alcoholic beverages was up 3.5%.
On a month-on-month basis, the increase in May CPI was mainly led by higher cost of housing, fuel and utilities group, which rose 0.7%, while the food and non-alcoholic beverages subindex was up 0.4%.
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