CPI declines 1.2% last year

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) decreased 1.2% last year, reported the Statistics Department today.

For the fourth quarter (Q4), headline inflation fell 1.5% to 120.3 from 122.1 a year earlier, it said in a statement.

However, the Q4 CPI was up 0.2% against the previous quarter.

The department said the CPI dropped 1.4% in December to 120.6 versus 122.3 in the same month a year ago.

The overall decrease in December 2020 was contributed by the decline in Transport (-8.4%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (-3.3%); Clothing & Footwear (-0.4%); Restaurants & Hotels (-0.2%); and, Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-0.1%), contributing 48.6% to the overall weight.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said out of the 552 items covered in the CPI, 339 showed a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase last month.

Meanwhile, 145 items declined and 68 were unchanged.

“Non-Durable Goods (296 items) is the category that experienced the most price increases at 206 items, (while) 73 items decreased and 17 items were unchanged.”

He said Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, which contributes 29.5% to the CPI weight, increased by 1.4% to 135.8 from 133.9 in December 2019.

The Miscellaneous Goods & Services CPI declined 2.2%, followed by Health (1.0%); Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.6%); Education (0.6%); and, Recreation Services & Culture (0.2%).

The CPI without fuel – which covers all goods and services except unleaded petrol RON95, unleaded petrol RON97 and diesel – fell 0.1% last month to 112.8 from 112.9 a year ago.

The average price of RON95 was RM1.74 per litre in December 2020, down 16.2% from RM2.08 in the same month a year ago.

The average price of RON97 fell to RM2.04 per litre from RM2.63, while diesel dropped to RM1.93 per litre from RM2.18 in the same period.

Meanwhile, the core index rose 0.7% last month from December 2019.

Among the major groups that influenced the increase were Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.2%); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (1.2%); Health (1.0%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (0.6%); and, Education (0.6%).

The core index excludes most volatile items comprising fresh food, as well as the administered prices of goods and services.

Uzir said despite the CPI decreasing y-o-y in December 2020, it rose by 0.5% on a monthly basis from November, attributed to the increase in Transport (3.0%) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.5%).

He said the index for all states last month declined between 0.9% and 2.2% y-o-y.

The biggest drop was recorded by Kedah and Perlis at -2.2%, followed by Sabah and the Federal Territory of Labuan (-2.0%), Johor (-2.0%), Melaka (-2.0%), Sarawak (-1.9%) and Negri Sembilan (-1.9%).

However, all states saw an increase in the Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages index, with the biggest spike recorded by Pahang at 2.3%, followed by Selangor and Putrajaya (2.2%), Perak (2.0%), Terengganu (2.0%) and Negri Sembilan (1.7%).

In a separate development, Uzir said following the implementation of the movement control order announced on January 11, the second phase of the Malaysia Population and Housing Census 2020, involving face-to-face interviews, will be rescheduled.

“Therefore, people who have not yet completed the census can take the opportunity to fill in the online census, or e-Census, which will be reopened.” – Bernama, January 22, 2021