Thailand
Malaysia: August inflation down 1.4% on-year on lower fuel prices
KUALA LUMPUR: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August fell by 1.4% from a year, mainly due to lower transport and fuel prices but food prices continued to increase. The decline was more than a Bloomberg survey of a 1.3% fall in the CPI.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement on Wednesday the CPI for August fell to 120.1 from 121.8 a year ago.
“The decrease in the overall index was attributed by the decline in transport (-9.9%), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (-3%), clothing & footwear (-0.6%) and furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (-0.1%) which contributed 45.7% to overall weight, ” he said.
However, the index for food & non-alcoholic beverages increased by 1.3% to 135.2 from a year ago. This group contributes 29.5% of the CPI weight.
“The CPI without fuel shows a positive rate of 0.2% in August 2020 as compared to July 2020. CPI without fuel covers all goods and services except unleaded petrol RON 95, unleaded petrol RON 97 and diesel, ” he said.
The average price of RON 95 in August 2020 decreased to RM1.68 per litre as compared to RM2.08 a year ago.
Dr Mohd Uzir also said the average price of RON 97 decreased to RM1.98 per litre as compared to RM2.51. The average price of diesel declined to RM1.81 per litre from RM2.18 a year ago.
However, core index rose 1.1% in August from a year ago due to the increase in miscellaneous goods & services (3.1%), communication (1.6%), health (1.1%) and education (1.1%).
The department points out that the core index excludes most volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods and services.
Although year-on-year CPI decreased, it rose by 0.2% from the previous month of July 2020.
The increase was due to miscellaneous goods & services (0.7%), transport (0.4%), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (0.2%), food & non-alcoholic beverages (0.1%), alcoholic beverages & tobacco (0.1%), health (0.1%) and restaurants & hotels (0.1%).
As for the CPI for the period of January to August, there was a 1% due to transport (-10.0%), clothing & footwear (-1.0%) and housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (-1.0%).
The index for all states decreased between -0.7% and -2.2% in August 2020 from a year ago.
Melaka recorded the sharpest decline (-2.2%) and Sabah & Labuan (-2.2%); Kedah & Perlis (-2.1%) and Sarawak (-2.1%).
However, all states registered an increase in the index of food & non-alcoholic beverages. The highest increase was recorded by Selangor & Putrajaya (2.3%), Johor (1.7%), Terengganu (1.5%), Perak (1.4%), Negeri Sembilan (1.4%) and Pahang (1.4%) and it surpassed the national index of (1.3%).
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/09/23/august-inflation-down-14-on-year-on-lower-fuel-prices