Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the inflation in January was driven by an increase in the main groups of restaurant and accommodation services (3.5%), personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services (3.3%), recreation, sport and culture (1.8%) and education (1.6%).

“In addition, health (1.2%), transport (0.9%), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.9%), insurance and financial services (0.6%)as well as furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.5%) showed a higher increase as compared to December 2024,” he said.

He said inflation for information and communication decreased (-5.3%) in January  (December 2024: -5.4%), due to the decline in inflation for the main subgroup of information and communication services (-5.9%) (December 2024: -6.4%).

“Clothing and footwear remained in the negative territory (-0.3%) (December 2024: -0.5%).

“Meanwhile, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and food and beverages recorded a slower increase at 2.8% and 2.5% against 3.2% and 2.7%, respectively, in the previous month,” he said.

Uzir said the average price for diesel in Peninsular Malaysia was RM3.06 per litre as compared to RM2.15 per litre in January 2024 (December 2024: RM2.95).

However, the average price of diesel for Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan remained at RM2.15 per litre.

As for the inflation at the state level, he said most of the states recorded inflation below the national inflation level of 1.7%.

However, inflation for four states was above the national inflation level, namely Penang (2.4%), Selangor (2%), Johor (1.9%) and Pahang (1.9%).

Comparing inflation with other selected countries, he said inflation in Malaysia (1.7%) was lower than inflation in Vietnam (3.6%), the Philippines (2.9%) and South Korea (2.2%).

“However, Malaysia’s inflation rate was higher than Thailand’s at 1.3%, Indonesia’s at 0.8% and China’s at 0.5%,” he added.