Selangor Journal
A shopping cart is pictured in a Tesco supermarket, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia , on June 12, 2020. — Picture by REUTERS

Malaysia’s consumer price index rises 0.1 pct in Feb

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.1 per cent to 122.5 in February compared with 122.4 in the same month last year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said today.

The increase in the overall index was driven by the indices of miscellaneous goods and services (1.6 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.4 per cent) and alcohol beverages and tobacco (0.7 per cent); health (0.7 per cent), said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

Other indices contributing to the rise were furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.3 per cent); recreation services and culture (0.1 per cent); and education (0.1 per cent).

All these contributed 50.7 per cent to the overall weight, he said in a statement today.

“Of the 552 items covered in the CPI, 326 items showed an increase in February 2021. (In contrast,) 147 items declined while 79 items were unchanged,” he said.

The core index, which excluded most volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods and services, gained 0.7 per cent y-o-y in February.

The increase was driven by miscellaneous goods and services (1.6 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.1 per cent); health (0.7 per cent); transport (0.5 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.4 per cent); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.3 per cent); education (0.1 per cent) and recreation services and culture (0.1 per cent).

Mohd Uzir added that based on the performance of 552 items by category of goods and services, non-durable goods (296 items) was the category that experienced the most price increase with 201 items, while 79 items decreased and 16 items were unchanged.

Transport fell by 2.0 per cent to 111.6 from 113.9 in the corresponding month of 2020, contributing 14.6 per cent of the CPI weight.

Similarly, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels declined by 0.8 per cent, followed by clothing and footwear (-0.4 per cent) and restaurants and hotels (-0.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, the CPI from January to February decreased 0.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.

On a monthly basis, CPI increased by 0.3 per cent in February from January 2021, attributed by transport (2.3 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.2 per cent); and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.2 per cent).

“The CPI without fuel increased 0.4 per cent in February 2021 to 113.6 as compared to 113.1 in the same month of the preceding year,” said Mohd Uzir.

The CPI without fuel covers all goods and services except unleaded petrol RON95, unleaded petrol RON97 and diesel.

Meanwhile, the average price of RON95 went down to RM1.96 per litre last month compared to RM2.07 in February last year.

In addition, the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 fell to RM2.26 per litre compared to RM2.37 in the corresponding month of last year, while the average price of diesel remained unchanged at RM2.13 compared to February 2020.

— Bernama

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