CPI stays at 4pct in Nov 2022, food highest contributor

 

Malaysia’s inflation rate stood at 4 percent in November 2022, unchanged from the preceding month, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today. 

The department said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November 2022 stood at 129 compared with 124 in November 2021.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said inflation for the food group increased by 7.3 percent and remained the main contributor to this month’s inflation, while restaurants and hotels edged up to 7 percent from 6.8 percent in October 2022.

“Slower increase was recorded for the transport group (5 percent) and furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance (3.8 percent),” he said in a statement today. 

DOSM said other main groups which also recorded increases were recreation services and culture (3.6 percent), miscellaneous goods and services (2.6 percent), and education (1.5 percent). 

Meanwhile, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and health groups recorded an increase of 1.4 percent, respectively, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco, as well as clothing and footwear, inclined 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, against November 2021, it said.

“Core inflation registered an increase of 4.2 percent in November 2022 as compared to the same month of the previous year, with the highest increase recorded by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group with 8.2 percent,” it said.

Uzir said inflation for the January to November 2022 period increased 3.4 percent as compared to 2.3 percent for the same period in 2021, mainly attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.6 percent), transport (4.7 percent), as well as restaurants and hotels (4.7 percent).

He noted that the inflation rate for month-on-month in November 2022 inclined 0.3 percent as compared to 0.2 percent recorded in October 2022, mainly contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.7 percent) and restaurants and hotels (0.5 percent).

Meanwhile, health and miscellaneous goods and services groups increased by 0.3 percent, respectively.

Uzir said four states recorded increases above the national inflation level of 4 percent, namely Putrajaya (7.9 percent), Selangor (4.8 percent), Sarawak (4.7 percent), and Johor (4.2 percent), while Labuan recorded the lowest increase at 2.4 percent.

“Inflation for the income group below RM3,000 increased 3.9 percent from 124.7 in November 2021 to 129.6 in November 2022, contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group at 6.9 percent,” he added.

- Bernama