June inflation rate rises to highest level since May 2009

By FINTAN NG
fintan@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s June inflation rate rose 1.7% to 113.7 from a year ago, reaching the highest level since May 2009 as prices began to normalise from last year’s low base.
The consumer price index (CPI) gained 1.6% in May 2010.
The Statistics Department said in a report that the CPI for June increased 0.2% compared to this May and rose 1.4% for the January to June period compared to the previous corresponding period.
The rise in the CPI was within economists’ expectations and also in line with a Bloomberg survey.
Economists who spoke to StarBiz recently said the CPI was expected to rise gradually although price increases for the year were expected to be moderate.
In June compared to a year ago, the food and non-alcoholic beverages index added 2.7%.
The indices for non-food increased 1.2%, transport gained 1.3%, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels added 0.8% while the services index rose 1.7% compared to a year ago.
The health and education indices added 1.6% and 1.8% respectively while the clothing and footwear index saw a 2% decline year-on-year.
The alcoholic beverages and tobacco index was up 3% and the restaurants and hotels index gained 1.8%.
The durable goods index increased 1.1%, the semi-durable good index declined 1.3% while the non-durable goods index rose 2.1%.