KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Malaysia’s inflation momentum is expected to pick up after ending its 11 consecutive months of negative growth in February, when it grew 0.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), compared to -0.2 per cent in January 2021.

In a research note today, AmBank Research said the rebound in inflation is driven by the rise in petrol prices — which resulted in a smaller contraction of -2.0 per cent in the transport segment in February compared with -5.1 per cent the previous month — as well as food prices which rose 1.4 per cent y-o-y.

“Pump prices of the RON95, RON97 and diesel rose by 4.3 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m) to RM1.95/litre (January: RM1.87), 3.7 per cent m-o-m to RM2.25/litre (January: RM2.17) and 4.1 per cent m-o-m to RM2.13/litre (January: RM2.04), respectively.

“This is in tandem with the higher Brent crude oil price in February, where it had increased to US$62.28 per barrel from US$54.77 per barrel in January,” it said.

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Meanwhile, it said food prices were managed with the aid of the maximum price scheme for 16 food items during Chinese New Year, effective Feb 8 - 16, 2021.

“The pick-up in economic activities — both global and domestic, coupled with firm commodity prices and a low base should see overall inflation settling at 1.8 – 2.0 per cent this year from -1.1 per cent in 2020,” the research firm added. — Bernama