Malaysia's Feb inflation rate at 1.4 pct, below forecast

(Adds chart on monthly CPI percentage change)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 (Reuters) - Malaysia's consumer price

index in February rose 1.4 percent from a year

earlier, government data showed on Wednesday.

February's annual inflation rate was below the 1.9 percent

forecast in a Reuters poll, and well below the 2.7 percent

posted in January.

Inflation in February was largely driven by higher food

prices but transports costs were lower, data from the Statistics

Department showed.

Headline inflation has moderated after staying above 3

percent every month in 2017, peaking at 5.1 percent in March.

Malaysia's central bank left its key interest rate

unchanged earlier this month, after hiking it for

the first time in over three years in January, as inflationary

pressures eased.

MALAYSIA CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (base 2010) PERCENTAGE CHANGE

Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sept Aug July June

yr/y 1.4 2.7 3.5 3.4 3.7 4.3 3.7 3.2 3.6

r

mth/ 0.0 0.3 0.1 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.9 -0.1 -0.2

mth

February 2017 (percentage change year-on-year)

Food, non-alcoholic beverages 3.0

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco 0.1

Clothing, footwear -0.7

Housing, water, electricity, fuels 2.0

Furnishings, household equipment 2.1

Health 2.1

Transport -0.3

Communication -0.5

Recreation services, culture

Education 1.1

Restaurants, hotels 1.8

Miscellaneous goods/services 0.4

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(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Sunil Nair)