Malaysia’s Inflation Rises At Slower Rate To 3.3% In April 2023, DOSM Finds

Malaysia’s inflation increased at a slower rate to 3.3 % in April 2023 with the index points recorded at 130.0 as against 125.9 in the same month of the previous year. The increase in Malaysia’s inflation was still driven by Restaurants & Hotels (6.6%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (6.3%). Nevertheless, the slower increase in the Transport group of 2.3 % as compared to March 2023 (2.4%) to a certain extent offset Malaysia’s inflation from continuing to rise higher.

Apart from that, the increase in Malaysia’s inflation for April 2023 also contributed by the rise in Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (3.0%); Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.5%); Health (2.1%) and Recreation Services & Culture (1.8%).

DOSM

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported on 26th May on the release of CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI), APRIL 2023 which cited the increase in the component of Food at home was driven mainly by the increase in the subgroup of Meat (9.2%), followed by Milk, cheese & eggs (7.0%); Rice, bread & other cereals (6.4%) and Fruits (5.1%).

Both subgroups of Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate & confectionery and Fish & seafood increased by 3.5 % and 3.1 % respectively. Meanwhile, the subgroup of Vegetables showed a significant decrease to 0.7 %.

In addition, Oil & fats continued to decrease by a negative 0.4 %. The component of Food away from home also recorded a lower increase of 8.1 % as compared to March 2023 (8.6%).

The monthly headline inflation in April 2023 increased marginally at 0.1 % at the same rate as recorded in the previous month. Meanwhile, core inflation eased at 3.6 % (March 2023: 3.8%).

At the state level, nine states recorded increases below the national inflation level of 3.3 % with Kedah and Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest increase of 2.0 % respectively. However, only five states recorded increases above the national inflation level namely Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (4.1%), Sarawak (3.9%), Selangor (3.8%), Pahang (3.5%) and Perak (3.4%).

For comparison with other countries, Malaysia recorded a lower inflation rate than the Eurozone (7.0%), Philippines (6.6%), Singapore (5.7%), United States of America (4.9%) and Indonesia (4.3%), but higher than Vietnam (2.8%) and Thailand (2.7%).