KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.6% in January 2020 to 122.4 from 120.5 in the same month a year earlier, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In a statement today, the department said the increase was driven by the transport index (3.9%), miscellaneous goods and services (2.5%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.7%), education (1.7%) and communication (1.5%).
It said the higher average price of RON95 in January 2020 at RM2.08 per litre compared to RM1.98 in January 2019 had contributed to the increase of the transport and overall index.
“In addition, the average price of RON97 increased to RM2.58 per litre from RM2.28 while diesel increased to RM2.18 per litre from RM2.12 in the corresponding month of the preceding year,” the DOSM said.
On a monthly basis, the CPI gained 0.1% In January 2020 compared to December 2019, mainly supported by the indexes of education (0.4%), miscellaneous goods and services (0.4%), health (0.2%) and recreation services and culture (0.2%). – Feb 21, 2020, Bernama
