Malaysia's inflation rate in August was 1.9 percent, a slight increase of 0.2 percent from July, official data showed today.

For the first eight months of the year, the consumer price index rose 2.0 percent from a year earlier driven by transport, food and housing, the Statistics Department said.

Malaysia's central bank has forecast that inflation would remain between 2.0 to 2.5 percent for the year, and has kept its key interest rate unchanged at 3.50 percent amid expectations of sustained economic growth and low inflation.

Inflation reached 3.6 percent last year due to high global oil prices.