Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI) for October 2024 rose to 133.4, compared to 130.9 in the same period last year.
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin attributed the rise in inflation to higher increases in the main groups of food and beverages (2.3%) and personal care, social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services (3.4%).
Meanwhile, restaurant and accommodation services (2.8%); recreation, sport and culture (2%); health (1.4%); transport (0.7%); and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.5%) increased at a slower rate.
“In contrast, inflation for information and communication decreased to -1.7% in October 2024 (September: 0.4%), driven by a decline in the main subgroup of information and communication services at – 1.8% (September 2024: 0.8%),” he said in a statement on CPI for October 2024.
Clothing and footwear remained in negative territory and posted -0.2%, while, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.1%); education (1.5%); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.8%) and insurance and financial services (0.5%) increased at the same rate as the previous month.
Uzir said inflation in the transport sector eased to 0.7% in October 2024, down from 1.1% in September 2024, primarily due to slower growth in the cost of operating personal transport equipment.
Among the items that recorded a lower increase was diesel at 15% (September 2024: 16.7%).
In October 2024, the average diesel price in Peninsular Malaysia was RM2.95 per litre compared to RM2.15 per litre in October 2023. (September 2024: RM3.04).
“In addition, the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 in October 2024 decreased to RM3.19 per litre as against RM3.47 per litre in October 2023(September 2024: RM3.28),” he added.
Uzir noted that inflation for four states was above the national inflation level namely Penang (3.1%), Pahang (2.7%), Selangor (2.3%) and Sarawak (2.1%).
On a monthly comparison, Uzir said the inflation for October 2024 increased to 0.2% compared to September 2024, driven by the increase in the main groups of food and beverages (0.8%), followed by personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services and education that recorded an increase of 0.2% in October 2024 respectively.
“These increases were partially offset by a decline in the information and communication group (-2.1%); transport (-0.2%); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-0.1%) and recreation, sport and culture (-0.1%).
“Meanwhile, core inflation which excludes volatile items, held steady at 1.8% in October 2024 as compared to September 2024,” he noted.
In comparison to inflation in other selected countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.9%) was lower than inflation in Vietnam (2.9%) and the Philippines (2.3%), however, the rate was higher than in Indonesia (1.7%), South Korea (1.3%), Thailand (0.8%) and China (0.3%), he added.