Food prices lead inflation higher to 4.7% in August

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation rate in August 2022 increased to 4.7% from a year earlier, in line with Reuters’ forecast of 4.7%.

In July 2002, inflation stood at 4.4%.

The Statistics Department said the increase was contributed by food and non-alcoholic beverages which increased by 7.2%.

“This increase was driven by the food away from home with 8.4%, while food at home increased by 6.4%.

“However, there are still some food items that recorded a decrease in price as compared to July 2022 such as chicken (-3.8%), barramundi fish (-2.4%) and vegetables such as cucumber (-4.6%), french beans (-3.6%) and round cabbage (-2.6%),” the department said in a statement.

The Statistics Department noted that the inflation rate in August 2022 was lower than the Eurozone (9.1%), the United States (8.3%), Thailand (7.9%), Philippines (6.3%) and South Korea (5.7%).

The inflation for the period of January to August 2022 increased 3.1% as compared to the same period of the previous year.

It was driven by the strong demand, commodity prices that remain high and disruptions in global supply chains.

Among the group that recorded increases were food & non-alcoholic beverages (5.1%), transport (4.5%) and restaurants & hotels (4.0%).

The increase in the food & non-alcoholic beverages group for the period of January-August 2022 was mainly contributed by the increase in the subgroup of meat (9.2%), followed by milk, cheese & eggs (7.3%).

“Transport group recorded an increase of 4.5% mainly due to the increase in the average price of Brent crude oil by 58.4% in the first eight months of this year,” it said.

Restaurants and hotels groups also recorded an increase of 4.0% for the period of January–August 2022 as compared to 0.2% in the same period of the preceding year.

Month-on-month, the increase in August 2022 moderated to 0.2% as compared to 0.4% in July 2022, mainly contributed by the good & non-alcoholic beverages and transport group which increase at a slower rate than the previous month.