Inflation slides to 2.4%, lowest this year

 

According to the statistics department, the average price of a chicken increased to RM9.93 per kg in June, exceeding the control price of RM9.40 per kg set by the government.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s inflation has dropped from 2.8% to 2.4% in June, the lowest number recorded this year, as revealed by the statistics department today.

According to a report it published today, the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 130.4 points compared with 127.4 points in the same month last year.

The slower increase in the country’s inflation in June was driven by restaurants and hotels (5.4%, compared with May at 6.7%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.7%; May: 5.9%) as well as furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.3%; May: 2.7%).

The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributed 29.5% of the total CPI, had moderated from 5.9% in May to 4.7% in June.

Meanwhile, the food-away-from-home component inflation had slowed to 6.8% compared with 8.1% the previous month.

The department stated that the increase in the food-at-home component inflation was mainly driven by the subgroup of milk, cheese and eggs (6%); rice, bread and other cereals (5.3%); meat (5.2%); sugar, jam, honey, chocolate & confectionery (3.6%); fruits (2.9%) as well as fish and seafood (1.6%).

“Vegetables and oils and fats continued to decrease to negative 1.6% and negative 0.9% respectively,” the report said.

However, the average price of a chicken in the peninsula had increased to RM9.93 per kg in June as compared to RM9.61 per kg the same month last year, exceeding the control price of RM9.40 per kg set by the government.

“Meanwhile, the average price of standard chicken in Malaysia increased to RM10.54 per kg as compared to RM10.02 per kg in June 2022 (May 2023: RM10.45),” said the report, adding that the increase in prices for the “meat” subgroup was also driven by the hike in pork (24.6%) and duck (6.7%) prices.

Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said six states recorded increases above the national inflation level, namely Sarawak (3%), Pahang (2.9%), Putrajaya (2.8%), Selangor (2.7%), Perak (2.7%) and Melaka (2.7%). However, Labuan recorded the lowest increase with 1.2% in June, well below the national level.

As for the food and non-alcoholic beverages group inflation, the department reported that all states had registered an increase, led by Putrajaya (7.1%), Sarawak (6.4%), Selangor (6.1%), Pahang (5.4%) and Melaka (5%).

Compared with other countries, Malaysia’s inflation rate in June was lower than the Eurozone (5.5%) and the United States (3%). Within the Asia Pacific region, Malaysia’s inflation rate was lower than that of South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines. - FMT