KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia continues to experience a gradual rise in inflation in November 2023, registering a modest rate of 1.5 per cent, as indicated by the index points of 130.9 compared with 129.0 in the corresponding month of the previous year.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) attributes this increase to the comparatively lower upticks in the groups of restaurants and hotels at 4.3 per cent, food and non-alcoholic beverages at 2.6 per cent and health, 2.3 per cent..
"The slower increase in inflation for restaurants and hotels to 4.3 per cent is mainly driven by both subgroups of expenditure in restaurants and cafes at 4.3 per cent and accommodation services at 4.2 per cent," it said.
In November 2023, the inflation rate for the food and non-alcoholic group was 2.6 per cent, a decrease from the previous month's 3.6 per cent.
"The component of food at home recorded an increase of 1.4 per cent mainly driven by the subgroup of rice, bread and other cereals 3.1 per cent, compared to last month's 3.6 per cent.
"This was followed by milk, cheese & eggs (2.9 per cent) and fruits (2.8 per cent). "Meanwhile, the component of food away from home increased slower to 3.9 per cent as compared to 5.6 per cent registered in October 2023," it added.
Apart from that, DOSM said the inflation for health recorded an increase of 2.3 per cent as compared to October 2023 (2.4 per cent) mainly due to the incline of subgroups of outpatients services, 3.6 per cent.
Additionally, the monthly headline inflation held steady in November 2023, remaining at 0.0 per cent, in contrast to October 2023's slight increase of 0.1 per cent.
Several key groups experienced monthly increments, including miscellaneous goods and services (0.4 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels (0.2 per cent), as well as health (0.2 per cent).
According to DOSM, the majority of states registered inflation rates lower than the national level.
Nevertheless, five states reported increases below the national inflation level of 1.5 per cent, specifically Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (2.3 per cent), Sarawak (2.0 per cent), Perak (1.9 per cent), Pulau Pinang (1.8 per cent), and Selangor (1.7 per cent).
"In comparison to inflation of other countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.5 per cent) was lower than inflation in the Philippines (4.1 per cent), Vietnam (3.5 per cent), Republic of Korea (3.3 per cent) and Indonesia (2.9 per cent)."However, the rate is higher than Thailand (0.4 per cent) and China (0.5 per cent)," it added.