PETALING JAYA: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw a 2.3% uptick in January 2022 to 124.9 against 122.1 seen in the same month of the previous year, surpassing the average inflation in Malaysia of 1.9% for 2011 to January 2022, according to the Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Malayisa Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed the increase in headline inflation mainly to the increase in the transport group at 6.0% and food & non-alcoholic beverages 3.6%. This was followed by furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.1%); restaurants & hotels (2.1%) and recreation services & culture (1.2%) he said.
“The issue of rising food prices such as vegetables, meat and fish which has been lingering for the past few months due to the direct impact of supply shortages as well as rising animal feed prices once again put pressure on food inflation.
“The increase in food inflation, which is the largest contributor to the overall weight of CPI, continues to be a major contributor to the inflation,” Uzir said in a statement.
Food inflation is the largest contributor to the overall weight of the CPI and a major contributor to inflation. He noted the inflation for food & non-alcoholic beverages rose 3.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January 2022 compared.
“Even though the highest increase was recorded for meat (7.8%), the increase in this subgroup was slower than the increase in December 2021 (8.3%). This was due to the decline in the average price of raw chicken in January 2022 to RM9.48 per kilogramme as compared to RM9.54 in December 2021,” said the chief statistician.
This was followed by the increase in vegetables (5.0%); milk, cheese & eggs (4.7%); oils & fats (4.6%) and fish & seafood (4.2%). On the other hand, food away from home went up 3.1%.
The transport group rose 6.0% due to low base effect with the setting of the RON95 unleaded petrol ceiling price in March 2021 (RM2.05) which was still high as compared to the average price of RM1.87 per litre in January 2021.
In addition, the average price of RON97 unleaded petrol also increased to RM3.06 per litre as compared to RM2.17 per litre a year ago. For those earning below RM3,000, Uzir stated that inflation rose at 2.5% y-o-y in January this year, as the food & non-alcoholic beverages group increased 3.8%, a 0.2 percentage point higher than the same group in the headline inflation.
On a monthly basis, he pointed out that the CPI increased 0.3% as compared to December 2021, attributed by restaurants & hotels (1.0%); recreation services & culture (0.8%); food & non-alcoholic beverages (0.6%) and furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (0.6%).
“However, the implementation of the Malaysian Family Maximum Price Scheme announced by the government throughout January 2022 has eased the inflation of food & non-alcoholic beverages group from continuing to soar as compared to December 2021 (1.0%).”
