KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's overall inflation rate, measured through the Consumer Price Index (CPI), remained at 1.5 per cent in December 2023, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
This results in an annual inflation rate of 2.5 per cent for 2023, compared to 3.3 per cent in 2022.
Core inflation increased more slowly to 1.9 per cent in December 2023, compared to 2.0 per cent in November 2023, and still exceeds the overall inflation rate of 1.5 per cent for Malaysia.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the inflation rate for that month was driven by a gradual increase in restaurants and hotels (3.7 per cent), various goods and services (2.7 per cent), and food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.3 per cent).
However, he said other main groups that showed increases were health (2.5 per cent) and transport (0.3 per cent).
"Food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributes 29.5 per cent of total CPI weight, recorded a moderate increase of 2.3 per cent as compared to 2.6 per cent in November 2023.
"The component of food at home increased to 1.3 per cent as compared to 1.4 per cent recorded in the previous month. The increase in the component of food at home was mainly driven by the subgroup of rice, bread, and other cereals, at 3.0 per cent.
"This was followed by milk, cheese, eggs, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionery subgroups, which were inclined at 2.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.
"The component of food away from home eased to 3.4 per cent as compared to 3.9 per cent registered in November 2023," he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the increase in the rice, bread, and other cereals subgroup by 3.0 per cent in December 2023 was contributed by the expenditure class of rice, which recorded a slower increase of 4.6 per cent as compared to 4.7 per cent in November 2023.
Imported rice and imported fragrant rice increased by 10.1 per cent and 6.0 per cent respectively, in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the expenditure class of flour and other cereal grains declined to negative 0.3 per cent.
The inflation for the milk, cheese, and eggs subgroup increased by 2.6 per cent in December 2023.
The slower increase was recorded by the expenditure class of milk powder and other dairy products (3.8 per cent), eggs (0.9 per cent) and evaporated or condensed milk (0.7 per cent).
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the inflation for the subgroup of oil and fats recorded a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent.
The mechanism price setting for cooking oil from Dec 8, 2023, to January 7, 2024, and to some extent, offset the increase in inflation in this subgroup.
Additionally, Mohd Uzir also said the gradual increase for the restaurant and hotel group is at 3.7 per cent, mainly driven by growth in both subgroups of spending in restaurants and cafes (4.0 per cent) and accommodation services (2.4 per cent).
However, the inflation for the miscellaneous goods and services group increased to 2.7 per cent compared to 2.3 per cent in November 2023.
"This is driven by a rise of 9.4 percent in the personal goods subgroup," he noted.
On inflation by state, Mohd Uzir said most states recorded inflation below the national level of 1.5 per cent.
However, he noted that six states recorded increases exceeding the national inflation rate, namely Sarawak (2.4 per cent), Putrajaya (2.1 per cent), Perak (1.9 per cent), Penang (1.8 per cent), Selangor (1.7 per cent), and Perlis (1.6 per cent).
All states reported an increase in inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The highest increase was recorded by Penang and Labuan at 3.3 per cent, followed by Putrajaya (3.1 per cent), Selangor (3.0 per cent), Sarawak (2.9 per cent), Pahang (2.9 per cent), and Perlis (2.3 per cent).
Meanwhile, other states showed increases below the national inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages, which was 2.3 per cent in December 2023.
For comparison with selected countries, inflation in Malaysia is lower than in the Philippines (3.9 per cent), Vietnam (3.6 per cent), the United States (3.4 per cent), South Korea (3.2 per cent), the Eurozone (2.9 per cent), and Indonesia (2.6 per cent).
However, the inflation rate is higher compared to Thailand (-0.8 per cent) and China (-0.3 per cent).
