Malaysia's February CPI seen falling 0.3pc y/y: Reuters poll

Malaysia’s consumer prices are expected to fall again in February, but at a slower rate than the previous month, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

The consumer price index (CPI) in February was forecast to fall 0.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to the median estimate among 12 economists surveyed.

In January, prices slipped into deflationary territory for the first time since November 2009, with the index declining 0.7 per cent year-on-year amid a sharp drop in retail fuel prices, reports Reuters.

Price pressures have moderated since the government withdrew an unpopular consumption tax in June 2018 and reinstated a narrower sales and services tax (SST) three months later.

The central bank said last month that Malaysia does not face serious deflationary pressures.

Headline inflation, which came in at 1.0 per cent in 2018, was likely to average higher this year, Bank Negara Malaysia said in February.