The rise in prices was largely driven by restaurants and hotels (6.7%; April: 6.6%), according to a report published by the statistics department today.
However, slower increases in other groups – such as food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.9%; April 6.3%), transport (1%; April: 2.3%) – had offset domestic inflation to a certain extent, the report stated.
Other factors contributing to May’s inflation included miscellaneous goods and services (2.9%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.7%), health (1.9%), and education (1.9%).
Food prices still elevated
While the food and non-alcoholic beverages group has moderated from 6.3% to 5.9%, the food-away-from-home component inflation increased 8.1%, unchanged from April.
“Some items in the component of food-away-from-home that recorded an increase in this month were burgers (16.6%) and fried chicken (11%).
On the contrary, the food-at-home component registered a slower growth of 4.3% compared to 5% in April.
The increase was mainly driven by meat (7.8%); milk, cheese and eggs (6.5%); rice, bread and other cereals (6.0%) and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate & confectionery (3.7%).
Chicken, which formed the largest component (46.1%) of the meat subgroup, rose 6.7% in May compared to 8.8% in the previous month.
“The average price of standard chicken in peninsular Malaysia has increased to RM9.92 per kg in May 2023 as compared to RM9.23 per kg in May 2022, exceeding the control price set by the government at RM9.40 per kg.
“Meanwhile, the average price of standard chicken in Malaysia increased to RM10.45 per kg as compared to RM9.70 per kg in May 2022,” the report stated.
The bigger picture
Seven states recorded increases above the national inflation level (2.8%), namely Sarawak (3.5%), Selangor (3.3%), Perak (3.2%), Putrajaya (3.1%), Pahang (3.1%), Melaka (3.1%) and Sabah (3%).
Labuan recorded the lowest increase among all states with an inflation rate of 1.2% in May.
As for the food and non-alcoholic beverages group inflation, the department reported that all states had registered an increase, led by Sarawak (7.6%) and followed by Selangor (7.3%), Putrajaya (7.1%), Melaka (6.1%) and Pahang (6%).
In comparison to other countries, Malaysia’s inflation rate in May was lower than the Eurozone (6.1%) and the US (4%).
Regionally, the country’s inflation rate was lower than the Philippines (6.1%), Indonesia (4%) and South Korea (3.3%).