File pic: A customer selecting bananas at Pasar Awam Taman Perling in Johor Baru.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s inflation rose 1.4% last month, with the consumer price index standing at 135.1, compared with 133.3 in the same month a year earlier, coming in slightly below market expectations.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast inflation to rise 1.5% in November, after an increase of 1.3% in October.
In a statement, the Statistics Department said the increase was mainly driven by stronger price growth in the education group at 2.6% from 2.4% in October, alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 2.4% from 0.3%, and transport at 0.2% from minus 0.1% previously.
Meanwhile, price increases moderated in several categories, including personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services, which rose 5.6% from 6% previously, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 0.7% from 1.1%, and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 0.2% from 0.3% in the previous month.
The Statistics Department added that inflation rates for insurance and financial services remained unchanged at 5.6%, while restaurant and accommodation services stayed at 3.4%.
Food and beverages and health both held steady at 1.5%, while recreation, sport and culture remained at 1.2%.
However, information and communications, as well as clothing and footwear, continued to record price declines, remaining in negative territory at minus 1.3% and minus 0.1%, respectively.
The Statistics Department noted that four states recorded increases above the national inflation level of 1.4%, namely Johor and Negri Sembilan at 1.9% each, followed by Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur at 1.7% and Selangor at 1.6%.
However, the remaining 12 states recorded inflation rates below or in line with the national level, with Kelantan posting the lowest inflation at 0.2% in November.
Monthly headline inflation in November was unchanged from the previous month, after recording a 0.1% decline in October.
In comparison with other selected countries, Malaysia’s inflation rate of 1.4% was lower than those of Vietnam at 3.6%, Indonesia at 2.7% and South Korea at 2.4%, but higher than China’s 0.7% and Thailand’s negative 0.5%.
