KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's inflation, as measured by consumer price index, rose 3.3 percent in November from a year ago, due to increase in food and petrol prices, official data showed on Wednesday.
The inflation in November was influenced by the increase in various items especially for the food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels groups, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
According to the DOSM, the food and non-alcoholic beverages group climbed 2.9 percent year-on-year in November, while the transport index grew 16.2 percent.
Meanwhile, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels went up 2.8 percent year-on-year in November.
"Although there was a significant increase in transport, food and electricity, diversification of households' spending in Malaysia and the various changes in price of certain goods, has indirectly helped ease the current inflation rate," said the DOSM.
The DOSM also said core inflation registered an increase of 0.9 percent in November as compared to the same month of the previous year.
It expects inflation to keep increasing due to the global prices of fuel, food and construction related material such as steel. Enditem
