CPI up 2.7% in January
KUALA LUMPUR: The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures headline inflation, rose by 2.7% to 121.3 in January from 118.1 in the same month in 2017 due to higher prices in 10 main groups.
The groups recording the biggest price growth were transport (5.7%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.8%), and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (2.6%), the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced yesterday.
These were followed by restaurants and hotels (2.4%), health (2.3%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (2.2%) and education (1.2%).
The remaining groups were miscellaneous goods and services (0.9%), recreation services and culture (0.5%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.2%).
The DoS said on a monthly basis, CPI increased by 0.3% in January 2018.
Starting last month, Malaysia's CPI has been calculated using an updated basket of goods and services based on the Household Expenditure Survey 2016.
The new basket comprises 552 items.
“Updating of the basket of goods and services aims to ensure the statistics reflect the current patterns in consumer expenditure,” the department said.
The growth in the food and non-alcoholic beverages index, which accounted for 29.5% of the CPI weights, was driven by the food sub-group index which included vegetables (7.6%), fish and seafood (5%) and milk and eggs (2.5%).
The food away from home index, meanwhile, witnessed a 4.9% increase. — Bernama