You know that sinking feeling when you’re inching ever-closer to the checkout counter at the supermarket? Your instincts serve you well.
According to Nasdaq.com, Malaysia’s consumer prices rose at their fastest pace since July 2011 this January, caused by increases in cost to food, non-alcoholic beverages and non-food items.
The consumer price index – our main gauge of inflation – rose 3.4 per cent in January from a year earlier, and at a 0.6 per cent increase from December 2013, according to the Department of Statistics.
This is contrast to the 3.3 per cent on-year median forecast in a Wall Street Journal poll of 13 economists. In December, the consumer price index gained 3.2 per cent on-year.
The food and non-alcoholic beverage index rose 4.2% in January while the non-food component climbed 3.0% from a year earlier. From December, prices of food items rose 0.8% while that of non-food items gained 0.4%.
The January reading is the highest since July 2011, when prices rose at a similar pace of 3.4% annually.
Photo: Asian Development Bank / Flickr
Source: Nasdaq.com
