FILE PHOTO: A woman shops in a wet market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Olivia Harris
August 13, 2019
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s consumer price index <MYCPI=ECI> in July likely rose 1.5% from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, matching the pace of the previous month.
The index had risen to its fastest pace in more than a year in June, as the effects of tax policy changes introduced last year lapsed.
Inflation has been mild since an unpopular consumption tax was scrapped in June 2018, while transport costs have declined amid a government effort to cap domestic fuel prices.
Last month, Malaysia’s central bank said headline inflation was expected to rise in the second half of the year.
Analysts, however, expect slowing economic growth to keep price pressures in check.
In May, Bank Negara Malaysia cut its key interest rate for the first time since 2016, amid low inflation and concerns over slowing growth.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
