KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation increased modestly to 1.7 per cent in March 2026, with the consumer price index (CPI) climbing to 136.4 from 134.1 a year earlier, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said Malaysia's inflation in March 2026 was mainly driven by an increase in the transport group to 1.6 per cent from -0.7 per cent in February 2026.
Inflation was also driven by increases in the personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services group, which rose by seven per cent (February 2026: 6.9 per cent).
According to DOSM, the insurance and financial services group recorded 4.9 per cent (February 2026: 4.7 per cent); alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 2.7 per cent (February 2026: 2.6 per cent); restaurant and accommodation services, 2.6 per cent (February 2026: 2.5 per cent); health, 1.4 per cent (February 2026: 1.2 per cent); information and communication, 1.4 per cent (February 2026: 0.5 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 1.2 per cent (February 2026: 1.1 per cent); and recreation, sport and culture, 1.0 per cent, (February 2026: 0.8 per cent).
"About 62.5 per cent of items (358 out of 573) recorded price increases. Nonetheless, of this total, 348 items (97.2 per cent) registered increases of 10 per cent or less, while only 10 items recorded increases of more than 10 per cent in March 2026.
"The remaining 171 items (29.8 per cent) showed a decline, while 44 items remained unchanged," it added.
The food and beverages group, which contributes 29.8 per cent of the total CPI weight, registered inflation of 1.1 per cent in March 2026 (February 2026: 1.3 per cent).
This was driven by subgroups of food away from home, 2.3 per cent (February 2026: 2.4 per cent), and food at home, 0.1 per cent (February 2026: 0.3 per cent).
Inflation for the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group increased to 1.2 per cent in March 2026 compared with 1.1 per cent in February 2026. This was driven by inflation in the subgroup of maintenance, repair and security of dwelling, 3.3 per cent (February 2026: 3.2 per cent).
DOSM said the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 in March 2026 was RM4.03 per litre compared with RM3.11 per litre in February 2026.
Meanwhile, the average price for Diesel in Peninsular Malaysia increased to RM4.12 per litre compared with RM2.98 per litre in February 2026.
However, the average price of Diesel for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan remained at RM2.15 per litre. The average market price of unleaded petrol RON95 increased to RM3.16 per litre (February 2026: RM2.55 per litre), compared with the subsidised price of RM1.99 per litre.
Mohd Uzir said eight states recorded inflation above the national rate of 1.7 per cent, namely Pahang (2.5 per cent), Labuan (2.4 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (2.2 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (2.2 per cent), Sabah (2.1 per cent), Johor (2.0 per cent), Kedah (1.9 per cent) and Pulau Pinang (1.8 per cent).
However, the remaining eight states recorded inflation below or equal to the national rate, with Kelantan recording the lowest inflation at 0.7 per cent in March 2026.
Month-on-month, headline inflation in March 2026 increased to 0.3 per cent compared with 0.2 per cent in February 2026.
This was driven by the transport group (2.1 per cent, February 2026: 0.2 per cent); information and communication, (0.8 per cent, February 2026: -0.2 per cent); insurance and financial services (0.3 per cent, February 2026: 0.0 per cent); health (0.2 per cent, February 2026: 0.0 per cent); recreation, sport and culture (0.2 per cent, February 2026: 0.0 per cent) and education (0.2 per cent, February 2026: 0.1 per cent).
Regionally, Malaysia's inflation of 1.7 per cent in March 2026 was lower than Vietnam (4.7 per cent), the Philippines (4.1 per cent), Indonesia (3.5 per cent), and South Korea (2.2 per cent). - Bernama
