MALAYSIA’S Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April increased to 3.3% with the index points standing at 130.0 from 125.9 in the same month last year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today that the increment was driven mainly by restaurants and hotels (6.6%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.3%).

Nevertheless, the slower increase in the transport group (2.3%) compared with March 2023’s 2.4% had offset a further rise in inflation to a certain extent, he said.

“The increase in Malaysia’s inflation was also due to the rise in furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3%); miscellaneous goods and services (2.5%); health (2.1%) and recreation services and culture (1.8%),” he said.  

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and education recorded an increase of 1.6% respectively.

Both alcoholic beverages and tobacco; and clothing and footwear rose 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.

Uzir said the food and non-alcoholic beverages group contributed 29.5% of total CPI, noting that out of the 230 food and beverages items, 84.3% recorded price hikes as compared to April 2022.

He said the food-at-home component moderated to 5% in April, compared with 5.6% recorded in the previous month.

The implementation of the Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme for 16 days (April 15-30) had eased the inflation to a certain extent, he said.

At the same time, food away from home also recorded a lower increment of 8.1% versus March 2023’s 8.6%.

“The Menu Rahmah initiative, introduced by the government, to some extent, helped in easing the inflation of food away from home from continuing to soar,” he said.

Uzir said nine states and territories recorded increases below the national inflation level of 3.3% with Kedah and Labuan posting the lowest increment of 2%.

Putrajaya (4.1%), Sarawak (3.9%), Selangor (3.8%), Pahang (3.5%) and Perak (3.4%) recorded increases above the national inflation level.

Uzir said the monthly headline inflation in April rose marginally at 0.1%, the same rate as recorded in the previous month, mainly contributed by miscellaneous goods and services (0.4%), transport (0.3%) and recreation services and culture (0.3%).

Core inflation, which measures changes in the prices of all goods and services, excluding volatile prices of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods by the government, eased to 3.6% from March 2023’s 3.8%.

“The increase was mainly due to a slower climb in the food and non-alcoholic beverages group (7.2%) and restaurants and hotels (6.6%),” he said. – Bernama, May 26, 2023.