KUALA LUMPUR: The Consumer Price Index rose by 3.4 per cent in November mostly due to the hike in fuel prices.
The Statistics Department said the growth was led by transport (10.8 per cent), food & non-alcoholic beverages (4.0 per cent) indices.
In the case of the transport group, the increase followed the hike in fuel prices. The average price of one litre of RON95 petrol was RM2.30 in November 2017 as compared to RM1.95 in November 2016.
As for RON97, the average price increased to RM2.59 in November 2017 as compared to RM2.30 in November 2016.
Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8 per cent of the CPI weights, it added.
In the case of food items which recorded notable increases compared with a year ago, it said cuttlefish and long beans accounted for the strongest increases at 13.5 per cent and 13.4 per cent respectively.
In terms of overall CPI, five states surpassed the national CPI rate of 3.4 per cent namely Johor, Melaka, Kedah & Perlis, Selangor & Federal Territory and Penang.
Based on a seasonally adjusted term, the overall CPI for November 2017 increased 0.7 per cent as compared to October 2017.
Core inflation rose 2.2 per cent in November 2017 compared with the same month of the previous year.
For the first 11 months of 2017, the CPI rose by 3.9 per cent compared with a year ago.