Malaysia Inflation Remains Stable At 1.8%

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's consumer price inflation held steady for the second straight month in April, data from the Department of Statistics showed on Friday.

The consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 1.8 percent year-on-year in April, the same as in the previous two months. Meanwhile, economists had expected inflation to rise to 1.9 percent.

The annual price growth in food and beverages accelerated to 2.0 percent from 1.7 percent. Similarly, health costs climbed 2.3 percent after rising 2.1 percent in March.

On the other hand, transport costs grew at a slower pace of 0.8 percent versus a 1.3 percent rise a month ago. Communication costs were 2.5 percent cheaper compared to last year.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices moved up 0.2 percent in April, after a 0.1 percent increase in the prior month.

Separate official data showed that the leading index for Malaysia, which measures future economic activity, improved to 112.2 in March from 109.7 in February. The increase was driven by the strong performance of the Bursa Malaysia industrial index and real imports of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals.