Malaysia Jan inflation rate at 3.2% y-o-y, above forecast

[ KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's consumer price index rose 3.2 per cent in January from a year earlier, its highest since February last year, government data showed on Wednesday.

The figure was above the 2.8 per cent growth forecast in a Reuters poll, and above the 1.8 per cent rise in December.

January's inflation rate was driven by higher prices of food and housing, utilities and transport costs, data from the Statistics Department showed.

Annual inflation reached a seven-year peak of 4.2 per cent in Feb 2016, before moderating as the effects of a goods and services tax imposed in April 2015 faded.

Malaysia's government said in October it expected inflation to remain between 2 and 3 per cent in 2017.

REUTERS