KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): Malaysia's headline inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to a 1.9% growth in September 2023, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The latest inflation figure marks the first inflation growth below 2% in almost three years — a 1.7% growth was recorded in March 2021.
The headline inflation slid 2% month-on-month from August, marking the 13th consecutive month of decline since peaking at 4.7% in August 2022.
The September 2023 inflation was lower compared to the 2.1% median estimated by Bloomberg.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the slower inflation growth in September 2023 was driven by lower increases in restaurants and hotels at 4.4% (August 2023: 4.7%), and food and non-alcoholic beverages at 3.9% (August 2023: 4.1%).
Apart from that, the increase in Malaysia’s inflation was also driven by increases in health at 2.2% (August 2023: 2.4%), education at 2% (August 2023: 2.1%), and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 1.5% (August 2023: 1.7%).
However, in terms of the general price level, the index point was still at a higher level, registering 130.8 against 128.3 in the same month of the previous year.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributed 29.5% of total CPI weight, recorded a moderate increase of 3.9% in September 2023, as compared to 4.1% growth recorded in the previous month.
Food at home’s growth also slowed to 2.5% as compared to 2.9% in the previous month. The increase in the component of food at home was mainly driven by the subgroup of rice, bread and other cereals at 4.1%. This was followed by the meat, and milk, cheese and eggs subgroups, which both increased by 3.4%.
However, food away from home remained at 5.9%, the same as August 2023’s rate.
Meanwhile, core inflation — which does not include food and energy prices — remained at 2.5%, the same as in August 2023, but it still surpassed the overall national inflation rate (1.9%).
The highest increase was recorded by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group at 5.1%. This was followed by restaurants and hotels (4.4%) and transport (2.9%).
Meanwhile, the inflation for the third quarter of 2023 rose 2% to 130.7 as compared to 128.1 in the same quarter of the preceding year. On a quarterly basis, inflation increased 0.4%, the same as the rate recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
Commenting on inflation at the state level, Mohd Uzir said 10 states/federal territories recorded increases below the national inflation level of 1.9%, versus six states/federal territories which recorded increases above the national inflation level.
The states/federal territories that recorded higher than national level inflation are Sarawak (2.7%), Putrajaya (2.6%), Perak (2.3%), Perlis (2.2%), Selangor (2.1%) and Pahang (2%).
In comparison to other countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.9%) was lower than in the Philippines (6.1%), eurozone (4.3%), South Korea (3.7%), Vietnam (3.7%), the US (3.7%) and Indonesia (2.3%). However, the rate is higher than Thailand (0.3%) and China (0%).