Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said inflation for the food category increased by 7.3% and remained the main contributor to the rise in overall inflation.

“Restaurants and hotels edged up to 7% as compared to 6.8% in October.

“Meanwhile, a slower increase was recorded in the transport category (5%) as well as furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.8%),” he said in a statement today.

Uzir said all sub-groups in food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an increase from 1.6% to 8.9%.

He said chicken was the largest component in the sub-group of the meat category, contributing to a 6.4% increase compared with 4.8% in October.

For the transport category, the increase in inflation was mainly contributed by transport services at 7.2%.

Uzir said the inflation rate for the period from January to November increased by 3.4% compared with 2.3% for the same period in 2021.

“At the same time, four states recorded increases above the national inflation level of 4%, with Putrajaya at 7.9%, Selangor (4.8%), Sarawak (4.7%) and Johor (4.2%).

“However, Labuan recorded the lowest increase of 2.4%,” he said.

He also said inflation for the income group earning below RM3,000 increased by 3.9% in November compared with the same month last year.

The increase was mainly attributed to the sub-group of milk, cheese and eggs (9%) followed by meat (8.7%) as well as rice, bread and other cereals (6.7%), he said.