KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) grew marginally by 0.7 per cent to 115.7 points in the second quarter of 2024 (2Q 2024), compared to a 1.0 per cent increase in 1Q 2024, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the arts, entertainment and recreation index rose 7.7 per cent in 2Q compared to 7.5 per cent in 1Q 2024, which was contributed by the other amusement and recreation activities (2.3 per cent).
"The index of accommodation and food and beverage service activities continued to increase by 2.4 per cent (1Q 2024: 2.5 per cent), attributed to beverage service activities (3.6 per cent) and restaurants and mobile food service activities (2.6 per cent), following an incline in food prices,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the education subsector inched up 0.8 per cent, similar to the previous quarter, contributed by secondary education (2.2 per cent) while real estate activities increased 0.8 per cent as compared to 0.6 per cent in 1Q 2024.
"Health and professional indices went up 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the transport index shrank 1.4 per cent, after recording no changes in the previous quarter, particularly due to the passenger air transport index (-5.9 per cent).
"The downturn has been seen since the 4Q 2023. Apart from that, the information and communication index decreased 0.1 per cent from an increase of 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter due to wireless telecommunication activities (-0.2 per cent),” he said.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Mohd Uzir said the SPPI contracted 0.1 per cent, after an increase of 0.3 per cent in 1Q 2024.
"This was the first decline since 4Q 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to the transportation index, which recorded a negative 2.0 per cent (1Q 2024: 0.7 per cent) attributed to passenger air transport (-6.8 per cent),” he added. - Bernama
