January Inflation Increases By 3.9%

The Star Online

Saturday February 21, 2009
January inflation increases by 3.9%

INFLATION rate in January increased by 3.9% against 2.3% in the same month last year.
However, inflation was down by 0.1% when compared with December 2008, the Statistics Department says in a statement.

It attributed the higher inflation in January to increases in the indices of all the main groups except transport, textile, footwear and communication. Notable increases were in food and non-alcoholic beverages which rose 9.8% and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels added 1.7%, it said

Other increases were in alcoholic beverages and tobacco, which went up 8.3%, furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance which went up 4.9%, restaurants and hotels gained 4.6% while education added 3%. — Bernama
BANK NEGARA’s international reserves rose to RM317.7bil as at Feb 13 from RM316.8bil on Jan 30.

In a statement, the central bank says the reserves position is sufficient to finance 7.6 months of retained imports and is four times the short-term external debt.

The reserves comprise foreign currency reserves (US$86bil), International Monetary Fund reserves position (US$300mil), Special Drawing Rights (US$200mil), gold (US$400mil) and other reserves (US$4.7bil). — Bernama