It said the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 130.8 compared with 128.2 in the same month last year.

The rate of inflation in August was driven by restaurants and hotels (4.7%, compared with 5% in July), food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.1% compared with 4.4%) as well as miscellaneous goods and services, and health, which increased by 2.4%, respectively.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages group, which contributed 29.5% of the total CPI, had moderated from 4.4% in July to 4.1% in August.

Meanwhile, the food-away-from-home component inflation had slowed to 5.9% compared with 6.2% the previous month.

The department said the increase in the food-at-home component inflation was mainly driven by the subgroup of meat (5.8%); rice, bread and other cereals (4%) and milk, cheese and eggs (4%).

In the meat subgroup, chicken registered an increase to 5.7% against 4.3% in July.

“The average price of chicken in Malaysia increased to RM10.21 per kg compared with RM10.51 per kg in July 2023,” Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today.

He said the increase in prices for the subgroup was also driven by the hike in pork (18.5%) and duck (5.7%) prices.

Uzir said seven states recorded increases above the national inflation level – Sarawak (3.4%), Putrajaya (2.7%), Perlis (2.4%), Perak (2.3%), Selangor (2.3%), Pahang (2.2%) and Melaka (2.1%).

For the food and non-alcoholic beverages group, the department reported that all states had registered an increase, led by Putrajaya (5.7%), Selangor (5.3%), Sarawak (5.0%), Perlis (4.7%), Melaka (4.4%), Pulau Pinang (4.2%), Labuan (4.2%) and Pahang (4.1%).

Malaysia’s inflation rate in August was lower than the Eurozone (5.3%). Within the Asia Pacific region, it was lower than that of the Philippines, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam.

However, the inflation rate is higher than Thailand (0.9%) and China (0.1%).