PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) slipped 0.2% in March this year to 120.9 from 121.1 registered in the previous year.
“Out of 552 items covered in CPI, the price of 337 items increased in March 2020 as against March 2019. On the contrary, 163 items declined while 52 items were unchanged,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
He found that the non-durable goods, a category with 296 items, saw the most increase with 195 items, 84 items decreased and 17 items were unchanged as compared to services, semi-durable goods and durable goods
Meanwhile, the decrease in the index of transport (-8.9%) which contributed 14.6% of overall weight was countered by the increase in the index of housing, water, electricity, gas & other Fuels (1.6%) and food & non-alcoholic beverages (1.2%).
The lower average price of RON95 in March 2020 which recorded RM1.74 per litre as compared to RM2.08 in March 2019 also contributed to the decrease of the transport and overall index.
In addition, the average price of RON97 decreased to RM2.04 per litre as compared to RM2.51 while Diesel declined to RM1.89 per litre from RM2.18 in the corresponding month of the preceding year.
Nevertheless, food and non-alcoholic beverages index continued to increase during the month by 1.2% to 134.1 as compared to 132.5 in the same month of the preceding year. The index contributes 29.5% of CPI weight.
Similarly, miscellaneous goods & services index also rose by 2.6%, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (1.6%), communication (1.5%), health (1.4%) and education (1.3%).
On a monthly basis, CPI decreased 1.2% as compared to February 2020, contributed by transport (-8.7%) and restaurants & hotels (-0.2%).
Meanwhile, CPI in the first quarter of 2020 increased 0.9% to 121.9 as compared to 120.8 in the same quarter of the previous year.
On a quarterly basis, the CPI decreased 0.2% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
The index for all states decreased between 0.1% to 0.9% in March this year as compared to March 2019. However, Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur and Penang increased 0.3%, 0.2% and 0.1% respectively as compared to the same month in the previous year.
All states registered an increase in the index of food & non-alcoholic beverages. The highest increase was recorded by Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (1.8%), Johor (1.8%) and Terengganu (1.6%) and it surpassed the national index of 1.2% for food and non-alcoholic beverages in March 2020.
