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Malaysia Inflation Probably Accelerated on Cigarettes (Update2) 

Malaysia's inflation probably quickened from a three-year low in July after the government raised the tax on cigarettes and boosted pay for civil servants.

The consumer price index rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier, following 1.4 percent gains in June and May, according to the median forecast of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The report is due tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur. . . .

British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd., the biggest cigarette maker in the Southeast Asian nation, raised prices by as much as 13.5 percent in July after the government increased the excise duty on tobacco products by 25 percent. Malaysia's more than 1 million federal government workers and defense personnel got a pay rise of as much as 42 percent last month.

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