KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Malaysia’s headline inflation rate remained at 1.5 per cent in December 2023, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded at 131.2 points versus 129.2 a year earlier, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said there were lower increases in restaurants and hotels group up from 3.7 per cent in November 2023 to 4.3 per cent, miscellaneous goods and services up 2.7 per cent from 2.3 per cent in November 2023 as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages up from 2.3 per cent in November 2023 to 2.6 per cent.
“Main groups that showed increases were health at 2.5 per cent from 2.3 per cent for November 2023 before and transport at 0.3 per cent from 0.1 per cent in November 2023,” he said in a statement today.
The annual headline inflation in 2023 rose by 2.5 per cent compared with 3.3 per cent in 2022.
DOSM said this is due to a 5.6 per cent increase in restaurants and hotels (2022: 5.0 per cent), 4.8 per cent rise in food and non-alcoholic beverages from 5.8 per cent in 2022 and 2.4 per cent growth in miscellaneous goods and services from 2.0 per cent in 2022.
DOSM said monthly headline inflation inclined at 0.2 per cent (November 2023: zero per cent) with a few main groups posting increases monthly, namely recreation services and culture at 0.4 per cent, food and non-alcoholic beverages at 0.3 per cent, and transport at 0.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, core inflation increased at a slower pace of 1.9 per cent in December 2023 from 2.0 per cent in November 2023:) and still surpassed the overall national inflation rate of 1.5 per cent.
This was due to the restaurants and hotels as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages groups which recorded moderate increases of 3.7 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, in December 2023.
In comparison to inflation of other selected countries, the inflation in Malaysia at 1.5 per cent was lower than inflation in the Philippines at 3.9 per cent, Vietnam at 3.6 per cent), the United States at 3.4 per cent, South Korea at 3.2 per cent, eurozone at 2.9 per cent and Indonesia at 2.6 per cent.
However, the rate was higher than Thailand at -0.8 per cent and China at -0.3 per cent.
— Bernama
