Malaysia CPI inflation surprisingly eases in November

Annual consumer price inflation in Malaysia was reported to have eased to 1.8% in November from 1.9% in October, data by the Department of Statistics showed.

Market consensus had pointed to an acceleration to 2.1%.

Last month, inflation moderated for both transport (0.4% YoY down from 0.7% YoY in October) and healthcare (1.2% YoY down from 1.4% YoY).

Meanwhile, prices continued to drop for clothing (-0.3% YoY compared to -0.2% YoY in October) and communication (-3.9% YoY compared to -1.7% YoY).

And, inflation remained stable for:

– alcoholic beverages (at 0.8% YoY);
– furnishing, housing, household maintenance (at 0.5%);
– recreation (at 2.0%);
– education (at 1.5%);
– restaurants (at 2.8%);
– miscellaneous items (at 3.4% YoY).

Malaysia’s food inflation surged to a 1-year high of 2.6% in November.

Finally, Malaysia’s annual core CPI inflation, which excludes fresh food items and administered costs, remained stable at 1.8% for a third straight month in November.

The USD/MYR currency pair settled 0.07% higher at 4.5060 on Friday. For the week, the exotic currency pair went up 1.33%.