KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation rose 1.8% in November 2024 compared to the same month last year, but the increase was slower than expected.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected the index to rise 2.1% year-on-year in November. In October, the index had risen 1.9%.
According to the Statistics Department (DOSM), the increase of inflation in November 2024 was driven by a slower increase in the main groups of health (1.2%) and transport (0.4%).
Meanwhile, inflation for food & beverages increased at a higher rate of 2.6% as compared to 2.3% in October 2024.
The main group of housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels also showed a higher increase in November 2024, 3.2%.
DOSM said the inflation for information & communication continued to decrease to a negative 3.9% in November 2024, due to the decline in inflation for the main subgroup of Information & communication services at -4.4%.
Most of the states recorded increases below the national inflation level of 1.8%.
However, inflation for five states was above the national inflation level namely Pulau Pinang (2.9%), Pahang (2.4%), Selangor (2.1%), Johor (1.9%) and Sarawak (1.9%).
All states registered an increase in the inflation of Food & Beverages.
“The highest rate was recorded by Selangor at 4%, followed by Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (3.4%), Johor (2.9%), Terengganu (2.8%), Pulau Pinang (2.6%) and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (2.6%),” DOSM said.
Meanwhile, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of food & beverages of 2.6% in November 2024.
“The overall monthly inflation for November 2024 decreased 0.1% as against October 2024. This is the first decline since August 2021, driven by the inflation in the main group of information & communication (-2.3%),” it said.
Meanwhile, core inflation increased at the same rate at 1.8% in November 2024 as compared to October 2024.
In comparison to inflation in other selected countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.8%) was lower than inflation in Vietnam (2.8%) and the Philippines (2.5%).
However, the rate was higher than Indonesia (1.6%), South Korea (1.5%), Thailand (1.0%) and China (0.2%).
