Malaysia's March CPI falls 0.2% y-o-y, slightly faster than forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's consumer prices in March fell for the first time in more than a year, declining 0.2 per cent from a year earlier amid lower transport costs, government data showed on Wednesday.

The fall in March's consumer price index was the first since February 2019 when it declined 0.4 per cent. A Reuters poll had forecast a drop of 0.1 per cent.

The decline was driven largely by lower prices of retail fuel during the month, with the transport sector index falling 8.9 per cent from a year earlier, data from the Statistics Department showed.

The drop, however, was offset by higher prices in most of the 12 main groups tracked in the index, particularly food and non-alcoholic beverages, communication, as well as housing and utilities.

Headline inflation was expected to average between -1.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent this year, lower than last year's 0.7 per cent, amid widespread coronavirus curbs, Malaysia's central bank said earlier this month.

REUTERS

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