Malaysia’s inflation rose to 1.6% in January, with the Consumer Price Index climbing to 135.7 from 133.6 in the same month a year earlier.
Main drivers of the increase
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the rise was mainly due to higher costs in personal care items, social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services, which jumped to 6.6% from 5.7% in December.
Education followed with a 3.2% increase, up from 2.8% the previous month.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels recorded 1.2%, improving from 0.9%, while recreation, sport and culture edged up to 0.9% from 0.8%.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, along with food and non-alcoholic beverages, held steady at 2.5% and 1.5% respectively, matching December levels.
Price movements across items
Uzir noted that 62% of the 573 items tracked saw price increases.
Of those, 97.5% — or 346 items — rose by 10% or less.
Only nine items recorded gains above 10%.
Meanwhile, 173 items declined in price and 45 remained unchanged.
Fuel price trends
The average price of unleaded RON97 petrol fell to RM3.11 per litre in January from RM3.24 in December.
In Peninsular Malaysia, diesel averaged RM2.89 per litre, down from RM3.03 the month before.
Diesel in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan stayed unchanged at RM2.15 per litre.
The market price of subsidised RON95 petrol rose slightly to RM2.54 per litre from RM2.62 in December, against the fixed subsidised rate of RM1.99.
State and regional comparison
Three states recorded inflation above the national figure: Johor at 2.1%, Negeri Sembilan at 2.0% and Pahang at 1.9%.
The remaining 13 states were at or below the national rate, with Kelantan posting the lowest at 0.3%.
Compared with selected countries, Malaysia’s 1.6% was lower than Indonesia’s 3.6%, Vietnam’s 2.5% and South Korea’s 2.0%, but higher than Thailand’s -0.7%.
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