Malaysia's March inflation likely to grow to 1.8%

No thanks to 3-fold reasons.

According to DBS, price pressure is building up. And CPI inflation figure for March due today will clearly illustrate that. 

The headline number is expected to print an increase of 1.8% YoY, up from 1.5% in February and half a percentage point above where it was in January.

Here's more from DBS:

Persistently strong domestic demand, coupled with the wage hikes and rapid increase in property prices are stoking inflationary pressures.

The economy’s output gap is becoming more positive with such demand pull inflationary pressure. These factors will likely drive inflation towards the 3% mark in the coming months.

Though market is not expecting any rate hike in the near term, risk of a monetary action by the central bank in the second half of the year is rising if the authority hopes to anchor inflation expectations.