KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 19): Malaysia’s headline inflation held steady in January 2026, supported mainly by higher prices for personal care items and education-related costs, official data showed on Thursday.
The consumer price index (CPI) — the country’s main gauge of inflation — rose 1.6% in January from a year earlier, according to a statement by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The reading matched the median forecast of 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and December 2025’s pace.
The index points increased to 135.7 in January from 133.6 in the same month of the previous year.
On a month-on-month basis, the CPI edged up 0.1% in January.
Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services rose 6.6%, up from 5.7% in December 2025. Education increased 3.2% from 2.8% in December, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels climbed 1.2% from 0.9%. Recreation, sport and culture edged up 0.9%, compared with 0.8% previously.
The food and beverages group, which carries a 29.8% weight in the overall CPI basket, rose 1.5% in January, unchanged from December. Within the category, dining out recorded a slower increase of 2.5%, while food prepared at home rose 0.6%, driven mainly by higher prices for meat, milk, other dairy products and eggs.
Meanwhile, several other components registered slower increases. Inflation in insurance and financial services moderated to 5.5%, while restaurant and accommodation services rose 3.0%. Health increased 1.4%, information and communication edged up 0.7%, and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance rose 0.2%.
Transport continued to trend lower, contracting 0.7% in January 2026 compared with a 0.1% increase in the previous month.
At the state level, three states recorded inflation rates above the national average of 1.6% — Johor (2.1%), Negeri Sembilan (2.0%) and Pahang (1.9%). The remaining 13 states registered increases at or below the national rate, with Kelantan posting the lowest inflation at 0.3% in January.
Compared with selected regional peers, Malaysia’s January inflation rate of 1.6% was lower than Indonesia (3.6%), Vietnam (2.5%) and South Korea (2.0%), but higher than Thailand, which recorded deflation of 0.7%.