KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s inflation rate has dipped to 1.9% in September compared to 2.0% in August, reported the Statistics Department today on the release of this month’s Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The decrease is driven by restaurants and hotels (4.4%); food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.9%); health (2.2%); education (2.0%); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.5%); recreation services and culture (0.6%); and transport (-0.1%).
As for the food and beverage subgroups, there is a decrease in food at home to 2.5%; meat (3.4%); milk, cheese and egg (3.4%); fruits (2.8%); and vegetables (-0.5%). The component of food away from home remained at 5.9%, the same rate as recorded in August.
The rice, bread and other cereals subgroup increased 4.1% in September (August: 4.0%). This was contributed by the increase in the expenditure class of rice by 5.0% (August: 3.0%).
Imported rice products and imported fragrant rice products recorded an increase of 9.5% and 6.1% as compared to 3.6% and 2.0% in August, respectively.
The subgroup of meat – which consists of chicken, beef, pork, lamb, buffalo and duck – registered a slower increase of 3.4% in September (August: 5.8%). Chicken being the largest component in the subgroup of meat increased to 0.9% as against 5.7% in August.
The average price of standard chicken in Malaysia increased to RM10.01/kg as compared to RM9.86/kg in September 2022 (August 2023: RM10.21). The increase in this subgroup of meat was also driven by the increase in pork (17.6%) and duck (4.7%). However, on a monthly comparison, the subgroup of meat decreased to negative 0.9% (August 2023: -1.1%).
Meanwhile, the subgroup of milk, cheese and eggs moderated to 3.4% in September 2023 (August 2023: 4.0%). The expenditure class of evaporated/condensed milk, and milk powder and other dairy products, increased slower to 4.6% (August: 5.7%) and 4.1% (August: 4.7%) respectively.
The subgroup of oils and fats continued to register a decline in September to negative 1.2% (August: -1.4%).
Meanwhile, the CPI points are recorded at 130.8 as against 128.3 in the same month in 2022.
However, alcoholic beverages and tobacco saw a slight increase to 0.7% compared to August this year, as well as clothing and footwear (0.1%), and miscellaneous goods and services (2.5%).
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and communication remain unchanged from August at 1.6% and -3.7%, respectively.
The inflation for the third quarter of 2023 inclined 2.0% to 130.7 as compared to 128.1 in the same quarter of the preceding year. On a quarterly basis, inflation increased 0.4%, the same rate as recorded in the second quarter of 2023. The core inflation remained at 2.5%, the same rate as recorded in August 2023.
For inflation at the state level, 10 states recorded increases below the national inflation level of 1.9%. However, six states recorded increases above the national inflation level – Sarawak (2.7%), Putrajaya (2.6%), Perak (2.3%), Perlis (2.2%), Selangor (2.1%) and Pahang (2.0%).
In comparison to inflation in other countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.9%) was lower than that in the Philippines (6.1%), eurozone (4.3%), South Korea (3.7%), Vietnam (3.7%), United States (3.7%) and Indonesia (2.3%).
However, the rate is higher than that in Thailand (0.3%) and China (0.0%). – October 20, 2023