In a statement today, DoSM said the index recorded 129.5 versus 124.9 in the same month of the preceding year, the slower increase was recorded since October 2022.
Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said core inflation registered a slower increase of 3.9% in January as compared to the same month of the previous year.
On inflation in other countries, he said the Eurozone inflation eased to 8.5% in January from 9.2% in the previous month, the slower increase was mainly due to the slowing down of energy inflation at 17.2%.
“Inflation rate in the US also eased to 6.4% in January 2023 as against 6.5% in December 2022.
“In comparison to selected countries in the Asia Pacific region, the inflation rate in Malaysia (3.7%) was lower than the Philippines (8.7%), Indonesia (5.3%), South Korea (5.2%) and Thailand (5%),” he said.
Drivers of inflation
Uzir said the increase in Malaysia’s inflation in January was driven by restaurants and hotels (6.8%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.7%) and transport (4%) groups.
“This was followed by furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance group (3.5%); recreation services and culture (2.7%); miscellaneous goods and services (2.3%) and health (1.6%), while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and education recorded an increase by 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively,” he said.
Meanwhile, both alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and clothing and footwear inclined 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively, as compared to January 2022.
“The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributed 29.5% of total CPI weight, recorded a slower increase as compared to December 2022,” he said.
The increase in this group was mainly attributed to the component of food away from home, which moderated to 9.3% as compared to 9.6% in December 2022, while food at home increased by 5.1% as compared to the previous month, Uzir said.
“Implementation of the festive season maximum price scheme for the 2023 Chinese New Year, which started from Jan 15 to 29, and the setting of the ceiling price for cooking oil in bottles by the government eased the inflation of this group from continuing to rise,” he said.
He said all subgroups in food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an increase between 0.7% and 9.1%, while the subgroup of meat recorded an increase of 8.3% as compared to January 2022, followed by milk, cheese and eggs (7%); rice, bread and other cereals (6.7%) and fruits (4.4%).
“Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, and fish and seafood increased by 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively.
“Meanwhile, the oils and fats subgroup moderated to 0.7%,” he said.
Transport inflation registers slower growth
Meanwhile, transport inflation registered a slower increase of 4% in January, as compared to 4.9% in December 2022, contributed by the lower increase in the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 as compared to a year ago.
“On a year-on-year basis, the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 eased to 9.5% at RM3.35 per litre as compared to 20% recorded in December 2022,” he said.
He explained that the moderate increase in fuel prices was a direct impact of the decrease in the price of Brent crude oil (-2.9%) to US$83.09 per barrel in January.
Commenting on the inflation at a state level, he said five states recorded increases above the national inflation level of 3.7%, namely Putrajaya (5.9%), Sarawak (4.3%), Selangor (4.2%), Johor (3.8%) and Pahang (3.8%).
However, Kedah and Labuan recorded the lowest increase of 2.2%.
“All states registered an increase in the inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the highest increase recorded by Sarawak (8.4%), followed by Selangor (8.1%), Putrajaya (7.4%), Penang (6.9%) and Johor (6.8%),” he said.
Meanwhile, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages rate of 6.7% in January.
He said inflation for the monthly income group below RM3,000 increased 3.5% from 125.8 in January 2022 to 130.2 in January 2023, while the inflation for restaurants and hotels also went up 7.3%.