KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation remained steady at 2.0 per cent in June 2024 according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, DOSM said inflation was driven by increases in Restaurant & Accommodation Services (3.3 per cent), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (3.2 per cent), Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (2.8 per cent), and Food & Beverages (2.0 per cent).
However, it also noted that Clothing & Footwear and Insurance & Financial Services each declined by 0.1 per cent compared to the same month last year.
Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in Restaurant & Accommodation Services was due to the increase in the main subgroup of Beverage preparation services to 4.2 per cent (May 2024: 4.1 per cent).
Meanwhile, the inflation for Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels was mainly from the subgroup of Water supply & miscellaneous services relating to dwelling, 32.1 per cent (May 2024: 32.1 per cent).
The Food & Beverages group, which contributes 29.8 per cent of the total CPI weight, recorded an increase of 2.0 per cent in June 2024, compared to last month, at 1.8 per cent.
DOSM said the main subgroup of food at home increased 0.9 per cent in June 2024 compared to 0.5 per cent last month.
"The expenditure class of Vegetables recorded the highest increase of 6.2 per cent (May 2024: 4.8 per cent).Among the vegetables that recorded a double digit increase were Long Beans, Capsicum and Cucumber," it said.
Inflation for the expenditure class of meat also edged up to 0.2 per cent in June 2024, with chicken as the largest component which comprised 32.6 per cent in the expenditure class of Meat returned to positive territory at 1.1 per cent.
The average price of Standard chicken in Malaysia for June 2024 was RM10.58 kilogramme as compared to RM10.54 per kilogramme in June 2023, while the average price of Standard chicken in Peninsular Malaysia for June 2024 was RM9.92 per kilogramme as compared to RM9.93 per kilogramme in June 2023.
Furthermore, inflation for the transport increased 1.2 per cent in June 2024, which was contributed by the main subgroup of Operation of personal transport equipment which increased to 1.7 per cent in June 2024.
Mohd Uzir mentioned that, concerning state-level inflation, most states recorded increases below the national inflation rate of 2.0 per cent.
He noted that four states had inflation rates above the national level: Pulau Pinang at 3.3 per cent, Sarawak at 2.7 per cent, Pahang at 2.7 per cent, and Selangor at 2.4 per cent.
"All states registered an increase in the inflation of Food & Beverages. The highest increase was recorded by Selangor at 3.3 per cent, followed by Pulau Pinang (2.9 per cent) and Perlis (2.1 per cent).
Meanwhile, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of Food & Beverages of 2.0 per cent in June 2024," he added.
Malaysia's inflation rate was lower than Vietnam's at 4.3 per cent, the Philippines' at 3.7 per cent, Indonesia's at 2.5 per cent, and South Korea's at 2.4 per cent.
However, it was higher than Thailand's and China's rates, which stood at 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.