• CPI surged by 4.3% yoy and eased to 0.3% mom

• Core inflation remain unchanged at 2.4% yoy

• Increased in food prices pushed global inflation higher in September

• Inflation expected to remain elevated

Malaysia’s consumer price index in September surged by 4.3% yoy from 3.7% in August, its highest pace since April 2017 (4.4%). The higher growth was contributed by the transportation index which increased notably by 15.8% yoy (Aug: 11.7%). The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages (FNAB), which accounted for 30.2% in the CPI weights, increased 4.6% in September (Aug: 4.3%).

On monthly basis, headline inflation eased to 0.3% from 0.9% registered in August. The slower pace was prompted by the FNAB index which shows no changes on the monthly growth. Transportation index growth also slowed down to 2.0% (Aug: 4.6%).

CPI for the period January-September 2017 registered an increase of 4.0% compared with the same period last year, mainly due to an increase in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index (+4.2%).

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 23 Oct 2017