In February, Malaysia saw a rise in its consumer price inflation rate for the first time in four months. The increase was largely driven by escalating utility costs, according to data released by the Department of Statistics.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.8 percent on a year-on-year basis in February, which marked an improvement compared to January's constant increase of 1.5 percent. Originally, economic analysts had predicted the inflation rate would hold steady at 1.5 percent.
In February, the growth in utility costs increased to 2.7 percent from January's 2.0 percent climb. Similarly, the transportation costs also increased, up by 1.2 percent compared to a rise of 0.7 percent in the previous month.
On the other hand, there was a slight decline in the annual price growth for food and beverages, decreasing to 1.9 percent from 2.0 percent. Prices for clothing and footwear saw a 0.2 percent drop.
On a month-by-month basis, consumer prices rose by 0.5 percent in February, an increase from the 0.2 percent rise the previous month.
Additional data revealed that in January, the leading economic activity index for Malaysia improved to 112.0 from 108.5 in December.
