Business

Saturday October 24, 2009

Inflation down for 4th month in September


PETALING JAYA: The consumer price index (CPI) dropped for a fourth month in a row in September, falling 2% compared with the corresponding month last year.

The decline was due to changes in the prices of petrol and diesel starting in June 2008, the Statistics Department said in its monthly report yesterday.

The latest CPI figure was in line with market predictions as polled by Bloomberg and Reuters earlier.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages for September increased 1% year-on-year, while the index for non-food fell 3.5%.

Month-on-month, inflation was up 0.3% compared with August and was 0.9% higher from January to September.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his Budget 2010 speech yesterday said inflation was expected to remain low at between 1.5% and 2.5% next year.

The CPI turned negative for the first time in June since August 1986 with a contraction of 1.4%.

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