MALAYSIA’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January eased to 3.7% from 3.8% in December, the Statistics Department (DOSM) said.

DOSM in a statement today said the index stood at 129.5 versus 124.9 in the same month of 2022, the slower increase being recorded since October last year.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in Malaysia’s inflation in January 2023 was driven by the restaurants and hotels (6.8%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.7%) and transport (4%) groups.

“This was followed by the furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.5%); recreation services and culture (2.7%); miscellaneous goods and services (2.3%); and health (1.6%) groups, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and education, recorded an increase of 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively,” he said. 

The alcoholic beverages and tobacco and clothing and footwear groups inclined 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively, compared with January 2022.

“The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributed 29.5% of total CPI weight, recorded a slower increase compared with December 2022,” he said. 

The increase in this group was mainly attributed to the component of food away from home, which moderated to 9.3% compared with 9.6% in December 2022, while food at home increased by 5.1% compared with the previous month, Uzir said. 

“The Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme for the 2023 Chinese New Year, which lasted from January 15 to 29, and the set ceiling price for bottled cooking oil by the government, helped ease inflation in this group,” he said. 

He said all subgroups in food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded increases of between 0.7% and 9.1%, while the meat subgroup recorded an increase of 8.3% compared with January 2022, followed by milk, cheese and eggs (7.0%); rice, bread and other cereals (6.7%); and fruits (4.4%). 

“Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, and fish and seafood, increased by 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively. 

“The oils and fats subgroup moderated to 0.7%,” he said. 

Uzir said the vegetables subgroup recorded an increase of 1% compared with 0.9% in December 2022. 

However, it recorded a slight increase of 0.7% compared with 1.7% in December 2022 on a monthly basis.

Inflation in the transport group registered a smaller increase of 4% in January 2023 compared with 4.9% in December 2022, contributed by the lower increase in the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 compared with a year ago. 

“On a year-on-year basis, the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 eased to 9.5% at RM3.35 per litre compared with 20.0% recorded in December 2022,” he said. 

He said the moderate increase in fuel prices is a direct impact of the decrease in Brent crude oil prices (-2.9%) to US$83.09 (RM368.46) per barrel in January 2023. 

The chief statistician said five states and territories recorded inflation rate hikes above the national level of 3.7% – Putrajaya (5.9%), Sarawak (4.3%), Selangor (4.2%), Johor (3.8%) and Pahang (3.8%).

However, Kedah and Labuan recorded the lowest increase at 2.2%. 

“All states registered an increase in the inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the highest increase recorded by Sarawak (8.4%), followed by Selangor (8.1%), Putrajaya (7.4%), Penang (6.9%) and Johor (6.8%),” he said. 

Other states showed an increase below the national inflation level for food and non-alcoholic beverages, 6.7%, in January 2023. 

He said inflation for the monthly income group below RM3,000 increased to 3.5% from an index of 125.8 in January 2022 to 130.2 in January 2023, while the inflation for restaurants and hotels went up to 7.3%.

As for core inflation, Uzir said it registered a slower increase of 3.9% in January 2023 compared with the same month of the previous year. 

On inflation of other countries, he said inflation in the eurozone eased to 8.5% in January 2023 from 9.2% in the previous month, mainly due to the slowing inflation rate in the energy group, at 17.2%. 

“Inflation rate in the United States eased to 6.4% in January 2023 against 6.5% in December 2022. 

“In comparison with selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the inflation rate in Malaysia (3.7%) is lower than in the Philippines (8.7%), Indonesia (5.3%), South Korea (5.2%) and Thailand (5%),” he said. – Bernama, February 24, 2023.