KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's July inflation eased to 3.2 percent, from 3.6 percent in June, according to latest data released Wednesday amid the continued moderation of fuel prices.
Malaysia's statistics department said in a statement that transport which surged 7.7 percent, and food and non-alcoholic beverages that increased by 4.2 percent, were the two major drivers for the consumer price index (CPI) in July.
The core inflation rose 2.6 percent in July compared with the same month of the previous year, the department said.
From January to July, CPI grew 4 percent year-on-year, due to higher food and non-alcoholic beverages prices.
The inflation in July is generally within economists' expectations.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank's economist Alan Tan told Xinhua that he foresees the inflation to fall below 3 percent in the following months, underpinned by lower retail fuel prices.
"Even though the domestic demand continues to improve as reflected in the second quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth, we have not seen the demand push inflation in the country," he added.
He maintained his inflation forecast for 2017 at 3.5 percent, and expected the rate to slow down to 2.2 percent in 2018.
