Malaysia records a 1.2 pct drop in CPI for 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased 1.2 per cent last year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

For the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2020, headline inflation fell 1.5 per cent to 120.3 compared to 122.1 a year earlier, it said in a statement yesterday.

However, the 4Q CPI was up 0.2 per cent against the third quarter of 2020. DoSM said the CPI dropped 1.4 per cent in December 2020 to 120.6 versus 122.3 in the same month of the preceding year.

The overall decrease in December 2020 was contributed by the decline in transport (8.4 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-3.3 per cent); clothing and footwear (-0.4 per cent); restaurants and hotels (- 0.2 per cent), and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-0.1 per cent), which contributed 48.6 per cent to overall weight.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said out of the 552 items covered in the CPI, 339 items showed a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in December 2020.

Meanwhile, 145 items declined and 68 items were unchanged.

“Non-durable goods (296 items) is the category that experienced the most price increase with 206 items, (while) 73 items decreased and 17 items were unchanged,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said food and nonalcoholic neverages, which contributes 29.5 per cent of CPI weight, increased by 1.4 per cent to 135.8 compared to 133.9 in December of the preceding year.

Meanwhile, the miscellaneous goods and services CPI declined by 2.2 per cent, followed by health (1.0 per cent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.6 per cent), education (0.6 per cent) and recreation services and culture (0.2 per cent).

The CPI without fuel -- which covers all goods and services except unleaded petrol RON95, unleaded petrol RON97 and diesel -- fell 0.1 per cent in December 2020 to 112.8 compared to 112.9 in the same month of the preceding year.

The average price of RON95 was RM1.74 per litre in December 2020, down 16.2 per cent from RM2.08 a year earlier.

The average price of RON97 fell to RM2.04 per litre from RM2.63, while the average price of diesel dropped to RM1.93 per litre from RM2.18 in the same month of the preceding year.

Meanwhile, the core index rose 0.7 per cent in December 2020 versus the same month in 2019.

Among the major groups which influenced the increase were miscellaneous goods and services (2.2 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.2 per cent), health (1.0 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.6 per cent) and education (0.6 per cent).

The core index excludes most volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods and services.

Mohd Uzir said although the CPI decreased y-o-y in December 2020, it rose by 0.5 per cent on a monthly basis compared to November 2020, a ributed to the increase in transport (3.0 per cent) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.5 per cent).

He said the index for all states for December 2020 declined by between 0.9 per cent and 2.2 per cent y-o-y.

The biggest drop was recorded by Kedah and Perlis at -2.2 per cent, followed by Sabah and the federal territory of Labuan (-2.0 per cent), Johor (-2.0 per cent), Melaka (-2.0 per cent), Sarawak (1.9 per cent) and Negeri Sembilan (-1.9 per cent).

However, all states saw an increase in the Food & NonAlcoholic Beverages index, with the highest increase recorded by Pahang at 2.3 per cent.

This was followed by Selangor and Putrajaya (2.2 per cent), Perak (2.0 per cent), Terengganu (2.0 per cent) and Negeri Sembilan (1.7 per cent).