Malaysia's inflation rate in June was 1.4 percent, a slight increase of 0.2 percent from May, official data said Wednesday.

For the first six months of the year, the consumer price index rose 2.0 percent from a year earlier, the Statistics Department said.

Malaysia's central bank has forecast that inflation would remain between 2.0-2.5 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.