Malaysia Inflation Likely Slowed in June, Poll Shows

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Malaysia's inflation likely eased further in June, potentially marking the third month of moderation from an eight-year high of 5.1% in March.

The consumer-price index, the country's main inflation gauge, is expected to have risen 3.8% in June from a year earlier, according to the median forecast of nine economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, as domestic fuel prices moderate. The CPI grew 3.9% in May from the previous year.

"We believe food prices remained elevated in June," Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, chief economist at Bank Islam Malaysia, said in an interview. "However, moderation in fuel prices could offset some of the inflationary pressures during the month."

Bank Negara Malaysia said Thursday after leaving interest rates unchanged at 3.00% that inflation is expected to slow in the second half of the year due to the weakening effect of global cost factors. The central bank had projected inflation to trend higher at 3.0%-4.0% this year, compared with 2.1% in 2016.

The official June inflation data is due Wednesday at 0400 GMT.

Write to Yantoultra Ngui at yantoultra.ngui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2017 04:56 ET (08:56 GMT)