Malaysia's August inflation rate picks up to 3.7% y-o-y, just above forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's consumer price index in August rose 3.7 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, coming in a little above forecast.

August's annual inflation rate was just above the 3.6 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and up from the 3.2 per cent posted in July.

Headline inflation reached an eight-year high of 5.1 per cent in March, but has since moderated.

Inflation was driven by higher fuel costs, with the transport index rising 11.7 per cent from a year earlier, data from the Statistics Department showed.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 4.3 per cent year-on-year in August, the data showed.

Malaysia's central bank has set a 2017 inflation target of 3 per cent to 4 per cent.

REUTERS