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Malaysia's Inflation Accelerates to 1.9% in April

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Malaysia's consumer price index rose 1.9% annually in April, faster than 1.6% in March, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said Tuesday.

The latest reading was slower than the 2.1% growth forecast by Trading Economics.

The increase was mainly driven by Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, which rose 2.8% compared with 2.7% a month earlier, alongside Information & Communication, which increased 2% compared with 1.4%.

Food & Beverages rose 1.2% compared with 1.1% a month earlier, and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance, which rose 0.4% compared with 0.1% in the preceding month.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation rose 0.4%, quicker than 0.3% noted in March, the data showed.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile items, edged down to 2% from 2.1% a month prior, data showed.

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