July inflation up 2.2% from a year ago driven by higher petrol price

 

The ceiling price for RON95 petrol has been fixed at RM2.05 a litre since March compared to an average of RM1.69 in July 2020.

PETALING JAYA: Inflation in July increased 2.2% from a year ago largely due to an increase in RON95 petrol.

The statistics department said the increase was mainly driven by a 11.6% increase in transport costs due to the setting of the RON95 petrol ceiling price to RM2.05 per litre since March compared to the average price of RM1.69 in July 2020.

Among the other reasons for the moderate increase are the monthly electricity bill discounts given to domestic consumers under the economic stimulus packages for three months effective July 1.

Overall, the consumer price index (CPI) for July increased to 122.5 from 119.9 in the same month last year.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the overall increase in CPI was because of the lower base effect last year which recorded a significant increase in transport, followed by furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.7%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.3%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.7%).

Meanwhile, five states and one federal territory surpassed the national CPI rate of 2.2% in July compared to July 2020.

These were Terengganu (2.8%), Pahang (2.5%), Selangor and Putrajaya (2.4%), Kelantan (2.4%) and Sarawak (2.3%).

All states registered an increase in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the highest increase recorded by Selangor and Putrajaya (2.0%). - FMT