Malaysia's October inflation seen picking up to 0.6 percent year on year - Reuters poll

Malaysia's October inflation seen picking up to 0.6 percent year on year - Reuters poll
FILE PHOTO: A woman shops in a wet market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Olivia Harris/File Photo Copyright Olivia Harris(Reuters)
By Reuters
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's consumer price index (CPI) was expected to rise 0.6 percent in October from a year earlier, a Reuters poll showed, quickening slightly from the previous month as the effect of a new tax regime remained muted.

Inflation was a benign 0.5 percent over the third quarter of this year, official data showed, after the government declared a tax holiday before it reinstated its sales and services tax (SST) on Sept. 1 to replace an unpopular consumption tax.

Inflation was 0.3 percent in September, marginally higher than in August when it reached a three-and-a-half year low of 0.2 percent.

Economists expect any pick-up in inflation due to the reintroduction of SST to be mild, softened further by the government's decision to fix pump prices for premium RON95 petrol for the rest of the year.

Last week Malaysia's central bank annual announced growth of 4.4 percent over the third quarter of 2018, its slowest pace in two years and the fourth straight quarter of slowing growth.

(Reporting by Liz Lee; editing by Eric Meijer)

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