KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), increased 0.6% in October 2018 from a year earlier due to higher prices for items including housing, water, electricity and fuel besides food and non-alcoholic beverages, according to the Statistics Department.

"The increase in the overall index was due to higher price for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.1%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.2%), restaurants and hotels (+1.2%), education (+1.1%), and transport (+0.8%).

"On a monthly basis, CPI increased 0.2% as compared to September 2018. CPI for the period January-October 2018 registered an increase of 1.1% as compared to the same period last year," the department said in a statement on its website today.