KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Malaysia’s inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose 1.9 per cent on-year in April to 136.9 from 134.3, said the Statistics Department (DOSM).
In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said inflation in April was mainly driven by the increase in the transport group (4.1 per cent; March: 1.6 per cent).
“In addition, Malaysia’s inflation was also driven by increases in alcoholic beverages and tobacco (2.8 per cent; March: 2.7 per cent), information and communication (2 per cent; March: 1.4 per cent), food and beverages (1.2 per cent; March: 1.1 per cent), and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.4 per cent; March: 0.1 per cent).”
He said that about 63.5 per cent of items (364 out of 573) recorded price hikes, of which 356 items registered an increase of less than or equal to 10 per cent, while only eight items recorded increases of more than 10 per cent in April.
“Prices of the remaining 165 items (28.8 per cent) had declined and 44 items remained unchanged,” he said.
Uzir said that the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group increased to 1.1 per cent in April (March: 1.2 per cent).
“This was driven by the subgroup of maintenance, repair and security of the dwelling, which eased to 2.3 per cent (March: 3.3 per cent),” he said.
He said that the average price of unleaded RON97 in April increased to RM5.06 per litre (March: RM4.03 per litre).
The average price for diesel in Peninsular Malaysia jumped to RM5.92 per litre (March: RM4.12 per litre), and the average price of diesel for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan remained at RM2.15 per litre.
“Meanwhile, the average market price of unleaded RON95 increased to RM4 per litre (March: RM3.16 per litre),” he said.
Uzir also said that in comparison to inflation in other selected countries, inflation in Malaysia in April (1.9 per cent) was lower than inflation in the Philippines (7.2 per cent), Vietnam (5.5 per cent), Thailand (2.9 per cent), South Korea (2.6 per cent), and Indonesia (2.4 per cent).
