KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s services producer price index (SPPI) edged up 0.4% to 110.2 in the first quarter of 2021 (1Q21) from 109.8 in the same quarter of 2020, said the Statistics Department.
The SPPI is designed to measure the average changes in the prices of services charged by the local services industry in Malaysia.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the main sub-sectors contributing to the increase are accommodation, food and beverage service activities (1.4%), real estate activities (1.4%), health (1.3%), education (0.8%) and transportation (0.1%).
“However, the index for arts, entertainment and recreation as well as information and communication decreased 1.2% and 0.1% respectively, while the index for professional remained unchanged,” he said in a statement today.
On a quarterly basis, Uzir said the SPPI edged up 0.1%, driven by sub-sectors namely the arts, entertainment and recreation (1%), education (0.4%), real estate activities (0.4%), accommodation, food and beverage service activities (0.3%) and health (0.1%).
“The index for transportation slipped 0.5% while the professional as well as information and communication indices were unchanged,” he said. – Bernama, May 6, 2021