December’s annual inflation rate was below the 0.4% forecast by a Reuters poll.
Inflation has been mild since the government scrapped an unpopular consumption tax in June last year, hitting a three-and-a-half-year low of 0.2% in August.
The main upward pressures on December’s inflation rate came from higher prices for five of the 12 main groups tracked in the index: housing and utilities, restaurants and hotels, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and education.
Prices were down in all other sectors with the biggest declines seen in the indexes for clothing and footwear, and miscellaneous goods and services, data from the Statistics Department showed.
Malaysia’s central bank said at its last monetary policy meeting in November that inflation is expected to edge upwards this year. Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged when it next meets on Thursday.