Flash February inflation up 1.2% on-yr

Written by Joseph Chin
Friday, 19 March 2010 17:20

KUALA LUMPUR: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February rose 1.2% on-year mainly due to higher prices for the food & non-alcoholic beverages and non-food items, according to the Statistics Department.

It said on Friday, March 19 the CPI was unchanged from January but for January to February, it increased by 1.3% from a year ago.

It said the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages and non-food for February compared to a year ago showed an increase of 1.3% and 1.1% respectively. For the period January to February 2010, the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages and non-food increased by 1.2% and 1.3% respectively.

"Compared to the previous month, the index for food & non-Alcoholic beverages increased by 0.1% while, the index for non-food remain unchanged at 109.0," it said.

The February CPI was lower than forecast by Standard Chartered Global Research which had expected CPI inflation to have accelerated slightly to 1.4% year-on-year (from 1.3% in January).

The reasons were due to higher food prices driven by price increases in some soft commodities, as well as strong demand during the Chinese New Year holidays.

"Even so, Malaysia’s inflation outlook remains benign this year, and we maintain our full-year average CPI inflation forecast of 2%," it said in a research note.

"In fact, the government recently abandoned plans to implement a petrol price management system (initially expected to come onstream in mid-2010 and targeted at reducing the government’s hefty fuel subsidy bill), and also rescinded electricity price increases. These developments are likely to result in more moderate inflation for 2010," it said.