Malaysia’s inflation in 2022 increased to 3.3 per cent (2021: 2.5%) with the index points recorded at 127.2 as against 123.1 in the previous year.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) cited today (May 17) that this increase was driven mainly by Food & Beverages (5.8%); Restaurants & Hotels (5.0%); Transport (4.7%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (3.5%).
This was followed by Recreation Services & Culture (2.3%); Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.0%) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (1.8%).
The core inflation increased to 3.0 per cent as compared to 0.7 per cent in the previous year. Among the groups that contributed to the increase were Food & Beverages (5.8%); Transport (5.6%); Restaurants & Hotels (5.0%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (3.5%). Inflation without fuel increased by 3.2 per cent in 2022 as compared to 1.2 per cent a year ago.
Meanwhile, inflation for income group below RM3,000 increased by 3.3 per cent in 2022 as opposed to 2021 (2.2%). The Food & Beverages group contributed to the highest increase of 5.7 per cent followed by Restaurants & Hotels (5.4%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (3.4%).
All states registered increases in inflation whereas three states showed an increase above the national inflation level of 3.3 per cent in 2022. The highest increase was recorded by the Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (7.3%), Selangor (4.2%) and Johor (3.4%).
Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest increase of 2.4 per cent. For Food & Beverages inflation, Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya recorded the highest increase of 7.7 per cent followed by Selangor (7.4%), Johor (6.1%) and Pulau Pinang (6.0%).
In 2022, inflation for urban area recorded an increase of 3.6 per cent (2021: 2.4%) while inflation in rural area recorded an increase of 2.6 per cent (2021: 2.6%).
For comparison with ASEAN countries, Malaysia recorded a higher inflation rate than Vietnam (3.2%) but lower than Lao P.D.R (23.0%), Thailand (6.1%), Singapore (6.1%), Philippines (5.8%), Indonesia (5.5%) and Cambodia (5.4%).
Chief Statistician of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, in a release today,: “The increase in inflation in 2022 was in tandem with the rise in majority commodities prices, the strengthening of US dollar (USD) against major currencies and geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. A significant increase was recorded by all the subgroups in Food & Beverages and registered an incline between 2.9 per cent to 8.6 per cent. Moreover, events such as floods and landslides have also caused disruptions in the supply of agricultural products, leading to shortages of food supplies and increased prices.”
Mohd Uzir added, “In an effort to revive the economy hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had reopened the tourism sector in April 2022 to international tourists from countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
This had an impact on the inflation for Restaurants & Hotels which registered a 5.0 per cent increase in 2022 as compared to 0.4 per cent recorded in 2021. Throughout the year 2022, the highest inflation was registered in August 2022 (4.7%). This was due to the lower base effect in 2021 as a result of the electricity bill discount given to domestic consumers under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (PEMULIH) from July to September 2021.”
In order to address the rising cost of living, the government has established a Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital by the end of June 2022. One of the interventions introduced was to set the ceiling price of cooking oil in 2 kilogrammes, 3 kilogrammes and 5 kilogrammes bottles on a monthly basis starting 8th August 2022. The ceiling price is based on the monthly price of one metric tonne of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) announced by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), he added.
