Financial News: Malaysia Inflation Rises In August; Trade Surplus Grows

Malaysia Inflation Rises In August; Trade Surplus Grows Sharply

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's consumer price inflation increased slightly in August, while the trade surplus rose markedly from last year as exports grew faster than imports, separate reports from the Department of Statistics showed on Friday.

Consumer price inflation increased to 1.9 percent in August from 1.8 percent in the prior month. Inflation was expected to remain stable at 1.8 percent.

However, inflation comfortably remained within Bank Negara's inflation target range of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile items, slowed modestly to 1.7% from 1.8% a month earlier.

Inflation based on transportation accelerated to 2.0 percent from 1.4 percent in July. Similarly, prices for housing and utilities grew at a faster pace of 2.1 percent versus 1.8 percent a month ago.

Food and beverages inflation rose somewhat to 1.9 percent from 1.8 percent, while that on information and communication eased to 2.6 percent from 3.4 percent.

On a monthly basis, overall consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July.

Malaysia's foreign trade surplus climbed to MYR 28.1 billion in August from MYR 15.9 billion in the same month last year. The surplus also grew from MYR 22.5 billion in July. Exports jumped 45.5 percent annually, and imports were 41.1 percent higher.

The positive export growth was mainly contributed by increases in both domestic exports and re-exports, rising by 46.0 percent and 21.0 percent, respectively.

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