The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 3.3 percent to 113.9 in July, compared with the 110.3 recorded in the same month last year, the Statistics Department said.

The rise in the CPI was led by increases in the index for the alcoholic beverages & tobacco group, health, miscellaneous goods and services, restaurants & hotels, furnishing, household equipment & routine household maintenance and food & non-alcoholic beverages.

These six groups of goods and services which weighted 47.4 contributed 66.8 percent to the increase in the CPI for July, the department said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur.

In addition, the overall index was also influenced by an increase in recreation services & culture (1.9 percent), transport (1.6 percent) and slight increase in clothing & footwear (0.9 percent).

On a monthly basis, the CPI for July increased 0.8 percent.

The department said of the twelve major groups of goods and services, nine recorded an increase, one registered a decline, while two remained unchanged.

Among the major groups which recorded increases in July were transport (3.1 percent), alcoholic beverages & tobacco (1.8 percent), food & non-alcoholic beverages (0.8 percent), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (0.4 percent), recreation services & culture (0.2 percent), restaurants & hotels (0.2 percent) and miscellaneous goods & services (0.2 percent).

On the other hand, a decrease was recorded in the index of clothing & footwear of 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the CPI for the first seven months of 2015 also registered an increase of 1.7 percent, as compared to the same period last year, led by increases among the main groups with high weights.

They were food & non-alcoholic beverages (3.1 percent) and housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (2.3 percent).

Other increases were alcoholic beverages & tobacco (11.6 percent), health (4.3 percent), restaurants & hotels (3.9 percent) and miscellaneous goods & services (3.2 percent).

On the other hand, a decrease was recorded in the transport index of 4.6 percent.

- Bernama