KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s inflation increased by 2.5% driven by rising food and fuel prices in 2021, the statistics department said.
Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said 184 food items in the overall 552 items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) “basket” recorded price increases.
He said the increase was also higher than the 0.7% recorded during the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the daily lives of the community. However, vaccination programmes have helped restore business confidence and further increase consumer confidence to go out shopping,” he said in a statement following the release of the “Analysis of Annual CPI, 2021” report today.
The report contains a detailed analysis of inflation from 2010 to 2021 by 12 main groups of goods and services.
Additionally, Uzir said the lifting of interstate travel bans and restoration of all economic sectors from Oct 11 last year contributed to the country’s economic recovery, especially in the distribution and retail sectors.
“Overall, the 2.5% increase was contributed by the index of transport (11%), food and beverages (F&B) (1.7%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.6%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.5%) which contributed 72% to the total CPI weight,” he said.
He said a total of 80% of food components in the F&B list had increased.
“The increase in global commodities prices impacted food inflation. The rise in chicken prices above the 2020 average price was due to the price rise of animal feed,” he said.
He said the lack of import supply, MCOs, as well as the closure of the national border, had influenced the fluctuation of prices in the local market.
On transportation inflation, Uzir said the double-digit increase of 11% was due to the base effect of the setting of the ceiling price for RON95 (RM2.05 per litre) and diesel (RM2.15 per litre) starting March last year.
Additionally, he said the discontinuation of the monthly electricity bill discounts given to domestic consumers under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih), which was implemented for three months and ended in September last year, also exerted upward pressure on national inflation.
“All states registered increases in inflation. Seven states showed an increase above the national inflation level of 2.5%. The highest increase was recorded by Terengganu (3.4%),” he said.
He said the increase was mainly due to the higher prices of chicken, eggs, cooking oil and fish and seafood in 2021 compared with the preceding year.
On inflation in Asean countries, Uzir said they registered increases of between 1.2% and 3.9%.
He said the Philippines recorded the highest inflation rate of 3.9% while Thailand had the lowest at 1.2%.
“Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Brunei recorded a lower increase in inflation at 2.3%, 1.9%, 1.6% and 1.5% respectively,” he said.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/06/01/inflation-up-by-2-5-due-to-food-fuel-price-increases/