Malaysia's August Inflation Eases To 1.9% - DoSM

Malaysia's inflation rate for August 2024 has eased to 1.9%, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reaching 133.2, compared to 130.7 in the same month of the previous year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

In its CPI report for August 2024, DoSM attributed the inflation to increases in several key categories: restaurant and accommodation services (3.2%), personal care social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services (3.2%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.1%), and recreation, sports and culture (2.0%).

Conversely, clothing and footwear recorded a decline of 0.2% in August 2024.

DoSM reported that the food and beverages group, which contributes 29.8% of the total CPI weight, increased by 1.6% in August 2024, the same rate as in July 2024.

Within this group, the main subgroup of food at home rose by 0.3%, primarily due to higher expenditure on vegetables, which saw an increase of 2.2% (July 2024: 2.9%).

In contrast, inflation for the meat expenditure class declined to negative 0.7% in August 2024 (July 2024: -1.1%), with chicken, accounting for 32.6% of this category, registering a decrease of 2.2% (July 2024: -2.7%).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said most states recorded inflation rates below the national average of 1.9%, except for Pulau Pinang (3.3%), Pahang (2.8%), Sarawak (2.5%) and Selangor (2.3%).

“All states registered an increase in the inflation of food and beverages, with the highest rate recorded in Selangor at 2.8%, followed by Pulau Pinang (2.7%), Sarawak (2.0%), Pahang (1.9%), Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (1.8%), and Terengganu (1.6%),” he said.

DoSM also highlighted that Malaysia's inflation was lower than that of Vietnam (3.5%), the Philippines (3.3%), Indonesia (2.1%), and the Republic of Korea (2.0%).

However, it was higher than in China (0.6%) and Thailand (0.4%).