Malaysia's inflation rate at 11-month high of 3.2%

KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia's consumer price index rose 3.2 per cent last month from a year earlier, its highest since February last year, government data showed yesterday.

The figure was above the 1.8 per cent rise in December.

Last month's inflation rate was driven by higher prices of food and housing, utilities and transport costs, data from the Statistics Department showed.

Annual inflation reached a seven-year peak of 4.2 per cent in February last year, before moderating as the effects of a goods and services tax imposed in April 2015 faded.

Malaysia's government said in October that it expected inflation to remain between 2 per cent and 3 per cent this year.

REUTERS

Baidu-backed video service iQiyi raises $2b

BEIJING • iQiyi.com, the video subsidiary of Chinese Internet company Baidu, has raised US$1.53 billion (S$2.17 billion) in new funds to compete with rivals in the country's hotly contested online entertainment sector.

The investment is in convertible bonds issued by iQiyi to investors including Baidu, Hillhouse Capital, IDG Capital and Sequoia Capital, Baidu said in a statement on Tuesday.

Baidu invested US$300 million as part of the issuance.

iQiyi is a video steaming service that hosts free and subscription services, with 481 million monthly active users as of December. Its main competitors include a video service backed by Tencent Holdings and Youku Tudou, which was acquired by Alibaba Holdings in 2015.

REUTERS