KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): Malaysia's inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), rose 1.5% year-on-year in November, the slowest pace since February 2021, amid lower price increase recorded for food, health, restaurants and hotels.

Core inflation, excluding volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods by the government, stood at 2.0% in November, the lowest since February 2022.

The continued deceleration, since August 2022, came as prices for the food and non-alcoholic beverages group rose at a slower pace of 2.6% in November versus 3.6% in October, while increases at restaurants and hotels slowed to 4.3% from 4.6%, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s statement on Friday (Dec 22).

Some of the other main groups that showed an increase were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which rose by 1.7% in November compared to 1.6% in October; and transport, which increased by 0.1% versus a flat growth in October, said chief statistician of Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

Prices for the food at home component increased at a slower rate of 1.4% in November compared to 2.1% recorded in the previous month, while prices growth for the food away from home component decelerated to 3.9% as compared to the 5.6% registered in October.

Mohd Uzir said fried chicken was among the items that showed a slower increase in November, mainly due to the effect of the fast food industry's promotion strategy.

At the state level, Mohd Uzir said, inflation in most of the states recorded increases below the national inflation level of 1.5%.

However, five states recorded increases above the national inflation level, namely Putrajaya (2.3%), Sarawak (2.0%), Perak (1.9%), Penang (1.8%) and Selangor (1.7%).

Mohd Uzir said all states registered an increase in the inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the highest increase recorded by Penang (3.7%), followed by Sarawak (3.6%), Selangor (3.5%), Labuan (3.4%) and Putrajaya (3.0%).

On a monthly basis, headline inflation remained unchanged at 0.1% in November as compared to October.