KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s headline inflation remained at 1.5% in January 2024 with the Consumer Price Index at 131.4 points against 129.5 a year earlier, according to the Statistics Department.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the rise in inflation was driven by the lower increases in restaurant and accommodation services (3.2%); personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services (2.5%); health (2.4%); food and beverages (2.0%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (2.0%).
“Nevertheless, the transport group increased slower (0.7%) compared to December 2023 (0.3%),” he said in a statement.
The department said monthly inflation continued to show an increase of 0.2% with housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels; food and beverages and health posting monthly increases of 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Meanwhile, core inflation rose slower at 1.8% versus December 2023’s 1.9%. It still surpassed the overall national inflation rate of 1.5% due to restaurant and accommodation services and the food and beverages sector, which recorded moderate rises of 3.2% and 2.9%, respectively, in January 2024.
Malaysia’s 1.5% inflation rate was lower than the United States (3.1%), the Philippines (2.8%), South Korea (2.8%), eurozone (2.8%) and Indonesia (2.6%). It was nevertheless higher than Thailand (-1.1%) and China (-0.8%). – February 23, 2024