[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's consumer price index likely rose 1.6 per cent from a year earlier in November, slightly faster than the previous month's pace, a Reuters poll showed.

The annual inflation rate had slowed to 1.4 per cent in October, from 1.5 per cent in September, as lower transport costs offset higher food and housing prices.

Annual inflation reached a seven-year peak of 4.2 per cent in February, but then moderated as the effects of a goods and services tax imposed in April 2015 faded.

Last month, Malaysia's central bank said annual inflation had moderated to 1.3 per cent in the third quarter.

REUTERS