Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the increase surpassed the average inflation in Malaysia for the period of 2011 to February 2022 of 1.9%.
“The increase in food inflation, which is the largest contributor to the overall weight of CPI, continued to be a major contributor to the country’s inflation.
“The 3.7% increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages category was largely due to an increase in the component for food at home which increased 4.1% compared with the same month of the preceding year,” he said in a statement, adding that the increase was mainly for raw cooking materials such as chicken (14.2%) and eggs (13.5%).
Meanwhile, food away from home also increased 3.6% compared with 3.1% recorded in January 2022.
The rise in headline inflation was mainly driven by the increase in transport group (3.9%), and food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.7%).
This was followed by furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.2%); restaurants and hotels (2.6%); and recreation services and culture (1.6%).
He also said the transport group increased 3.9% due to the low base effect with the setting of the RON95 unleaded petrol ceiling price effective March 2021 at RM2.05 per litre, which was higher compared with the average price of RM1.96 per litre in February 2021.
On a monthly basis, the CPI increased by 0.2% compared with January 2022. This was attributed to recreation services and culture (0.4%); restaurants and hotels (0.4%); and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.3%).
Core inflation measures any change in the price of goods and services, excluding volatile items of fresh food as well as prices of goods controlled by the government. It registered an increase of 1.8% in February 2022 compared with the same month of the previous year.
“The increase in world oil prices and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia may affect the supply chain and have a ripple effect across the global economy.
“This will likely have implications on transportation cost and with that, the national inflation. Currently, the government is still maintaining the RON95 unleaded petrol and diesel prices to protect consumers from the effects of oil price increases in the global market,” he explained.
As for the CPI by states, he noted that all states recorded increases in CPI, with two states showing increases above the national inflation rate of 2.2% with the highest increase recorded by Selangor and Putrajaya (2.9%).