Malaysia’s Inflation Eases To 2.8% In May, Contributed By Lower Transport Increase

Malaysia’s inflation eased further to 2.8% in May 2023 with the index points recorded at 130.2 as against 126.6 in the same month of the previous year reported DOSM. The increase in Malaysia’s inflation the department said was still driven by Restaurants & Hotels (6.7%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (5.9%). Nevertheless, the slower increase in the Transport group of 1.0 % as compared to April 2023 (2.3%) to a certain extent offset Malaysia’s inflation from continuing to rise higher.

Apart from that, the increase in Malaysia’s inflation for May 2023 also contributed by the rise in Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.9%); Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance group (2.7%); Health (1.9%) and Education (1.9%). Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels and Recreation Services & Culture recorded an increase of 1.8 per cent respectively. This was followed by, Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.7%) and Clothing & Footwear (0.4%).

The increase in the component of Food at home was mainly driven by the increase in the subgroup of Meat (7.8%); Milk, cheese & eggs (6.5%); Rice, bread & other cereals (6.0%) and Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate & confectionery (3.7%). Fruits increased by 3.6 % and Fish & seafood increased by 2.7 %.

The monthly headline inflation in May 2023 increased by 0.2 % as compared to April 2023 (0.1%). This was mainly contributed by Restaurants & Hotel (0.6%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (0.5%) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (0.5%). Meanwhile, core inflation eased to 3.5 % (April 2023: 3.6%).

At the state level, nine states recorded increases below the national inflation level of 2.8 % with Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest increase of 1.2 % in May 2023. However, seven states recorded increases above the national inflation level namely Sarawak (3.5%), Selangor (3.3%), Perak (3.2%), Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (3.1%), Pahang (3.1%), Melaka (3.1%) and Sabah (3.0%).

For comparison with other countries, Malaysia recorded a lower inflation rate than the Eurozone (6.1%), Philippines (6.1%), United States of America (4.0%), Indonesia (4.0%) and South Korea (3.3%).