KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), increased 1.5% in August 2019 from a year earlier on costlier items including food and non-alcoholic beverages, tobacco besides household equipment, the Statistics Department said today.

On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2% compared to July 2019, the department said in a statement today.

"The (on-year) increase in the overall index was driven by the index of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.2%), food & non-alcoholic beverages (2.6%), alcoholic beverages & tobacco (2.5%), miscellaneous goods & services (2.5%), recreation services & culture (2.3%) and communication (2.2%).

"Four states namely Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (2.4%), Pulau Pinang (2.0%), Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (1.8%) and Perak (1.6%) surpassed the national CPI rate of 1.5% in August 2019 as compared to August 2018. Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan showed the same rate of increase as the national CPI," it said.

In July 2019, the CPI rose 1.4% from a year earlier, according to the department.