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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s inflation edged up to 1.9% in August, slightly above expectations, as price increases accelerated across transport, utilities and food.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.9% from a year earlier, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

This exceeded the median forecast of 1.8% in a Bloomberg survey and July’s annual increase of 1.8%.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices EN: Consumer prices harga pengguna BM: Harga yang dibayar oleh pengguna untuk barangan dan perkhidmatan. increased 0.3%.

Malaysia’s inflation remains relatively contained compared with many other Asian countries, despite elevated oil prices and prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

Targeted subsidies and price controls on essential goods have helped cushion consumers against rising global commodity prices.

Meanwhile, core inflation EN: core inflation inflasi teras BM: Ukuran inflasi yang mengecualikan barangan harga mudah berubah, harga ditadbir kerajaan. eased to 1.7%, down from 1.8% in July.

This measure excludes volatile items such as fresh food, as well as goods with government-administered prices.

The food and beverage group, which accounts for about 30% of the CPI’s weighting, recorded inflation of 1.9%.

The increase was driven by food bought for consumption EN: Consumption penggunaan BM: Penggunaan barangan, perkhidmatan atau sumber at home, while inflation for meals eaten outside the home held steady.

Inflation in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group rose to 2.1%.

This reflected a revision to the Automatic Fuel Adjustment (AFA) rate for domestic electricity users in Peninsular Malaysia consuming more than 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh).

Transport inflation also accelerated to 2.0%, from 1.4% in July, driven by larger price increases for public transport services and a sharp rise in the cost of operating personal vehicles.