Malaysia's August CPI Up 1.5 Per Cent To 115.6

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August 2016 increased by 1.5 per cent to 115.6 compared with 113.9 recorded in the same month last year. Among the major groups which recorded increases were the index for alcoholic beverages & tobacco which rose by 19.7 per cent from August 2015, food & non-alcoholic beverages (+3.5 per cent) and housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+2.1 per cent), the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement on Wednesday. Other groups that recorded an improvement were miscellaneous goods and services (+2.5 per cent) and health (+2.2 per cent). However, the transport group decreased by 6.7 per cent compared to August 2015 followed by communication (-2.4 per cent) and clothing & footwear (-0.6 per cent). On a monthly basis, the CPI for July 2016 increased 0.4 per cent to 115.6 from 115.1 in July. The CPI for January to August 2016 registered an increase of 2.3 per cent compared with the same period last year, led by increases in the main groups with high expenditure percentages such as food & non-alcoholic beverages (+4.2 per cent) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.6 per cent). Other increases were for alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+21.4 per cent), miscellaneous goods and services (+3.5 per cent), restaurants and hotels (+3.2 per cent), health (+3.0 per cent) and furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+2.9 per cent). --BERNAMA