KUALA LUMPUR: Higher food prices pushed December's inflation rate up 1.8% from a year ago but the increase was slightly lower than a Bloomberg survey of a 1.9% rise.

The Statistics Department said on Wednesday the overall index for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 1.8% to 116.9 in December 2016 from 114.8 a year ago.

It said the higher CPI was due to the increase in the indices for food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.7%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.1%). 

However, the increase was absorbed by declines in the indices of communication by 2.6%, transport (-0.6%) and clothing and footwear (-0.5%).

“Core inflation rose 2.1% in December 2016 compared to the same month of the previous year,” it said.

The department said  based on a seasonally adjusted term, the overall CPI for December 2016 remained unchanged at 116.9 as compared to November 2016.

On a monthly basis, the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 0.6% in December 2016 following an increase of 1.0% in November 2016. The index for non-food fell 0.3% in December 2016 compared with November.