Malaysia's producer price index falls 3.7 pct in December 2018

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's producer price index (PPI) dropped 3.7 percent year-on-year in December 2018, dragged by agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and manufacturing sectors, official statistics showed Thursday.

Malaysian Statistics Department said in a statement that the agriculture, forestry and fishing index slumped 17.6 percent, while mining and manufacturing contracted 4.3 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

Conversely, the index of electricity and gas supply grew 1.6 percent, while index for water supply rose 0.8 percent.

On month on month basis, the PPI fell 1.3 percent in December 2018, mainly due to the decline in mining and manufacturing.