Malaysia July inflation rate eases to 3.2% y-o-y, just below forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's consumer price index in July rose 3.2 per cent from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, slowing in pace for the fourth month in a row.

July's annual inflation rate was just below the 3.3 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

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

Inflation was driven by higher fuel and food prices from a year earlier, with the transport index rising 7.7 per cent from a year earlier, data from the Statistics Department showed.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages grew 4.2 per cent year-on-year, the data showed.

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

REUTERS