Malaysia’s inflation eased to 3.8 per cent in December 2022 with the index recording 129.2 as against 124.5 in the same month of the preceding year (November 2022: 4.0%).
The Department of Statistics Malaysia(DoSM), in its Consumer Price Index Malaysia December 2022 report today cited that the slower increase in the Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages group of 6.8 per cent as compared to 7.3 per cent in the previous month contributed to the lower increase in national inflation.
This was followed by Transport (4.9%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (3.7%) which also recorded a slower increase as compared to November 2022. However, Restaurants & Hotels continued to show an increase of 7.4 per cent as against November 2022 (7.0%).
In December 2022, almost all subgroups in Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages recorded a slower increase as compared to November 2022.
The subgroup of meat recorded the highest increase at 7.8 per cent in December 2022. This was followed by Milk, cheese & eggs (7.1%) and Rice, bread & other cereals (7.0%). Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate & confectionery and Fruits increased by 4.1 per cent and 4.0 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, Oils & fats subgroup moderated to 1.0 per cent.
Inflation for the overall year 2022 increased 3.3 per cent as compared to 2.5 per cent recorded in 2021.
On a monthly basis, inflation in December 2022 recorded a 0.2 per cent increase as compared to 0.3 per cent in November 2022.
Meanwhile, core inflation that measures changes in the prices of all goods and services, excluding volatile prices of items for fresh food as well as administered prices of goods by the government registered an increase of 4.1 per cent in December 2022 (November 2022: 4.2%).
In December 2022, four states that showed increases above the national inflation level of 3.8 per cent were Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (7.9%), Selangor (4.5%), Sarawak (4.1%) and Johor (3.9%). However, Kedah recorded the lowest increase of 2.2 per cent.
Malaysia recorded a lower inflation rate than some selected countries, namely the Euro Zone (9.2%), Philippines (8.1%), United States of America (6.5%), Thailand (5.9%), Indonesia (5.5%) and the Republic of Korea (5.0%).
