KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's consumer prices are expected to edge higher in March, rebounding after two months in deflationary territory, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
The consumer price index in March was forecast to rise 0.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the median estimate among 13 economists surveyed.
The index turned negative in January for the first time since November 2009, declining 0.7 percent year-on-year. In February, it dropped 0.4 percent.
Price pressures have been mild since the government scrapped an unpopular consumption tax in June 2018 and reinstated a narrower sales and services tax (SST) three months later.
The central bank has said, however, that Malaysia did not face serious deflationary pressures. Headline inflation, which came in at 1 percent in 2018, was likely to average higher this year, Bank Negara Malaysia said.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
