MALAYSIA’s inflation rate stood at 4% in November 2022, unchanged from the preceding month, said the Statistics Department (DOSM) today. 

The department said the Consumer Price Index for November 2022 stood at 129 compared with 124 in November 2021. 

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said inflation for the food group increased by 7.3% and remained the main contributor to this month’s inflation, while restaurants and hotels edged up to 7% from 6.8% in October. 

“A slower increase was recorded for the transport group (5%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.8%),” he said in a statement today.

DOSM said other main groups that also recorded increases were recreation services and culture (3.6%), miscellaneous goods and services (2.6%), and education (1.5%).

Meanwhile, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and health groups recorded an increase of 1.4% each, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco, as well as clothing and footwear, inclined 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively, against November 2021, it said.

“Core inflation registered a rise of 4.2% in November 2022 as compared to the same month of the previous year, with the highest increase recorded by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group with 8.2%,” it said. 

Mohd Uzir said the inflation for the January to November 2022 period increased 3.4% as compared to 2.3% for the same period in 2021, mainly attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.6%), transport (4.7%), as well as restaurants and hotels (4.7%).

He noted that the inflation rate for month-on-month in November 2022 inclined 0.3% compared with 0.2% recorded in October 2022, mainly contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.7%) and restaurants and hotels (0.5%).

Meanwhile, health and miscellaneous goods and services groups increased by 0.3%, respectively.

Uzir said four states and territories recorded increases above the national inflation level of 4%, namely, Putrajaya (7.9%), Selangor (4.8%), Sarawak (4.7%), and Johor (4.2%), while Labuan recorded the lowest increase at 2.4%. 

“Inflation for the income group below RM3,000 increased 3.9%, from 124.7 in November 2021 to 129.6 in November 2022, contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group at 6.9%,” he added. – Bernama, December 23, 2022.