Thailand
Malaysia: February CPI surpasses 10-year average inflation
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) increased 2.2% to 125.2 in February 2022 from 122.5 in the same month of the preceding year, according to the Statistics Department.
The increase surpassed the country’s average inflation of 1.9% for the past 10 years.
“The incline in headline inflation was mainly driven by the year-on-year increase in transport group and food and non-alcoholic beverages with a 3.9% and 3.7% increase respectively,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
“This was followed by furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance with 3.2%, restaurants and hotels with 2.6% and recreation services and culture with 1.6%,” he said in a statement.
Mohd Uzir said the increase in food inflation, which is the largest contributor to the overall weight of CPI, continued to be a major contributor to the inflation.
He noted that all subgroups in food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded increases.
Food at home, which consists of raw materials for cooking at home, increased 4.1% compared with the same month of the preceding year.
The increase was mainly in raw materials used for cooking such as chicken and eggs that saw a rise of 14.2% and 13.5% respectively. “Meanwhile, food away from home also increased 3.6% as compared to the 3.1% recorded in January 2022,” he added.
Cooked beef and murtabak were among the food that contributed to the increase in the index for food away home that recorded a surge of 6.4% and 6.2% respectively while rice with side dishes and satay recorded an increase of 6% and 5.4% respectively.
At the same time, the transport group increased 3.9% due to the low base effect with the setting of the RON95 unleaded petrol ceiling price of RM2.05 in March 2021, which was still high compared to the average price of RM1.96 per litre in February 2021.
In addition, the average price of RON97 unleaded petrol also increased to RM3.21 per litre compared to RM2.26 per litre a year ago.
The Statistics Department believes the surge in world oil prices and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia may affect the supply chain and have ripple effects across the global economy.
“This will likely have implications on transportation costs and thus national inflation,” it added.
Government subsidies to the RON95 unleaded petrol and diesel is an effort to protect consumers from the effects of oil price increases in the global market.
As for the CPI by states, he noted that all states recorded increases in the CPI, with two states showing a rise above the national inflation level of 2.2%.
The highest increase was recorded by Selangor and the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with a 2.9% rise, while Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and the federal territory of Labuan and Negri Sembilan were the three states with the lowest CPI increase of 1.9%, 1.8% and 1.8% respectively.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/03/26/february-cpi-surpasses-10-year-average-inflation