MALAYSIA’S consumer price index increased 2.8% year-on-year to 126.6 last month from 123.1 in May 2021, according to the Statistics Department.

The department said the increase surpassed the average inflation in Malaysia for the January 2011-May 2022 period (1.9%).

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said food inflation continued to rise to a new high at 5.2% – the highest since November 2011 – with 93% of items in the group recording increases.

“Out of the items, 29.4% recorded increases in the range of less than 5%, 37.7% saw increases of between 5% and 10%, while 32.9% rose by more than 10%,” he said in a statement today.

Transport increased by 3.9% followed by restaurants and hotels (3.7%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.9%), miscellaneous goods and services (1.9%), and recreation services and culture (1.8%).

Meanwhile,  housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, registered an increase of 1.2%, while education climbed 1%.

Both alcoholic beverages and tobacco, as well as health, inclined marginally by 0.4% while the communications group remained unchanged from the same period of the preceding year.

Uzir said, in May, food at home and food away from home inclined 5.5% (April: 4.1%) and 5.1% (April: 4.4%), respectively, leading to an increase in food inflation.

“The sub-group of meat showed the highest increase of 9.5% in May (April: 6.2%) due to the increase in demand during the festive season, followed by vegetables (8.1%), milk, cheese and eggs (8.0%), fish and seafood (4.3%), and oils and fats (3.7%).

“Meanwhile, a significant increase for food away from home can be seen for rice with side dishes (8.3%), roti canai (7.8%), food made from noodles (5.7%), and cooked chicken (5.1%),” he added.

He said the rising cost of feed coupled with an increase in demand contributed to the increase in chicken price this time around.

“Chicken as the largest component in the sub-group of meat (46.1%) went up 13.4% as compared with 7.5% in April, while the average price of chicken in May was RM9.70 per kg against RM8.44 in May last year.

“The surge in vegetable prices in the market at the moment was mainly attributed to the rising of fertiliser prices, logistics costs, labour shortage, and weather conditions,” he said.

According to the report, the increase in the transport group was largely due to the increase in the average price of RON97 unleaded petrol by 63.8% (RM4.26 per litre) versus RM2.60 in May last year.

The increase in fuel prices was a direct impact on the increase in the price of Brent crude oil (65.2%) to US$112.37 (RM495.14) per barrel last month.

“Nevertheless, subsidised RON95 and diesel have eased the inflation in this group,” it said.

Commenting on the inflation at state level, Uzir said the highest increase was recorded by Selangor and Putrajaya (3.7%).

Kedah and Perlis (up 2.2%), Sabah and Labuan (2.2%) and Malacca (2.1%) were the three states with the lowest increase in inflation.

“All states registered an increase in the inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages, with Selangor and Putrajaya posting the highest increase of 6.7%, followed by Johor (6%), Penang (5.8%), and Perak (5.2%).

“Meanwhile, inflation for the income group below RM3,000 increased 2.9% from 123.6 in May last year to 127.2 in May 2022, contributed by a 5.4% increase in the food and non-alcoholic beverages group, up 0.2 percentage point than the national food inflation.

“The increases were from the sub-group of meat (9.4%), followed by milk, cheese and eggs (9%) and vegetables (7.5%),” he added. – Bernama, June 24, 2022.