KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), rose 4.4% in April from a year earlier mainly on costlier fuel besides food and non-alcoholic drinks.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department said costlier petrol had led to a 16.7% increase in the CPI's transport segment.

The department said the food and non-alcoholic drinks' segment rose 4.1%.

"The index of transport group showed a significant increase of 16.7% on a year-on-year basis in April 2017, after rising 23% in March 2017.

"The average price of 1 litre of RON95 petrol was RM2.21 in April 2017 compared to RM1.70 in April 2016. As for RON97, the average price increased to RM2.48 in April 2017 compared to RM2.05 in April 2016. Fuels & lubricants for personal transport equipment accounted for 7.8% of the CPI weights," the department said.

The department said that between January and April, the CPI rose 4.3% from a year earlier and in monthly terms, April CPI, however, fell 0.3% from March.

April CPI's 4.4% on-year rise compared to March's 5.1% increase, according to the department.