Malaysia’s inflation in October 2023 increased 1.8 per cent, the lowest since April 2021 with the index points recorded at 130.9 as against 128.6 in the same month of the previous year.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in its Consumer Price Index Malaysia release today (Nov 24) said the increase in the inflation was driven by the lower increases in Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, 3.6 per cent.
This was followed by the increase in Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (1.4%) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.3%).
Apart from that, other main groups that contributed to a lower increase compared to the increase recorded in September 2023 are the Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco group (0.6%) (September 2023: 0.7%), Clothing & Footwear (0.0%) (September 2023: 0.1%) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (1.6%) (September 2023: 1.6%).
The component of Food at home recorded an increase of 2.1 per cent as compared to 2.5 per cent recorded in the previous month. The increase in the component of Food at home was mainly driven by the subgroup of Rice, bread & other cereals 3.6 per cent (September 2023: 4.1%). This was followed by Milk, cheese & eggs and Meat subgroups which increased by 3.1 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively. In addition, the component of Food away from home increased slower to 5.6 per cent as compared to 5.9 per cent recorded in September 2023.
In comparison to inflation of other countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.8%) was lower than inflation in the Philippines (4.9%), Republic of Korea (3.8%), Vietnam (3.6%), Eurozone (2.9%) and Indonesia (2.6%). However, the rate is higher than China (-0.2%) and Thailand (-0.3%).
Chief Statistician of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, with regards to inflation at the state level, most of the states recorded increases below the national inflation level at 1.8 per cent. However, four states recorded increases above the national inflation level namely Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (2.7%), Sarawak (2.5%), Perak (2.2%) and Selangor (1.9%).
“All states registered an increase in the inflation of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages. The highest increase was recorded by Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (5.2%), followed by Sarawak (4.8%), Selangor (4.7%), Pulau Pinang (4.5%), Melaka (3.7%) and Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan (3.6%). Meanwhile, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages of 3.6 per cent in October 2023.
The monthly headline inflation in October 2023 increased 0.1 per cent mainly contributed by Restaurants & Hotels (0.5%), Transport (0.2%) and Health (0.2%). Meanwhile, the core inflation increased slower at 2.4 per cent (September 2023: 2.5%) but still surpassed the overall national inflation rate (1.8%).
The highest increase was recorded for inflation of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (4.8%).
