Wednesday, February 10, 2010

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November 20, 2009 19:45 PM

Inflation Down 1.6 Per Cent In October

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's inflation rate in October registered a 1.6 per cent decline as compared with the same month last year.

The drop was due to the changes in petrol and diesel prices in June.

When compared with the previous month, it increased by 0.1 per cent, said the Department of Statistics in a statement Friday.

Meanwhile, from January to October, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up by 0.6 per cent.

The department said the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages for October compared with the same month last year showed an increase of 0.8 per cent, while the index for non-food dwindled by 2.6 per cent.

Between January and October, the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 4.8 per cent, and on the other hand, non-food registered a drop of 1.4 per cent.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages remain unchanged at 121.0 while non-food increased by 0.1 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The 0.6 per cent increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of transport (-10.4 per cent); clothing and footwear (-0.9 per cent) and communication (- 0.5 per cent).

Meanwhile, the 0.1 per cent rise in the CPI from the previous month was due to the increase from main groups alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+ 2.8 per cent); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance and restaurants and hotels by 0.2 per cent, respectively; recreation services and culture and miscellaneous goods and services by 0.1 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, transport was down by 0.1 per cent.

-- BERNAMA

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