Malaysia’s March inflation rate at 1.3pc, slowest in 20 months

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — Malaysia’s consumer price index in March rose 1.3 per cent from a year earlier, its slowest pace in nearly two years, government data showed today.

March’s annual inflation rate was below the 1.6 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll, and at its slowest since July 2016 when it was at 1.1 per cent.

The rate in February was 1.4 per cent.

Inflation in March was kept in check by lower transport costs, which offset higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, data from the Statistics Department showed.

Headline inflation has moderated after staying above 3 per cent every month last year, peaking at 5.1 per cent in March 2017.

Malaysia’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged last month, after hiking it in January for the first time in over three years, as inflationary pressures eased. — Reuters