Malaysia's inflation edges up to 1.9pct in August
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation edged up to 1.9 per cent in August from 1.8 per cent in July, driven mainly by higher transport costs and faster price increases across several major consumer spending categories.
Malaysia's inflation rose slightly to 1.9% in August, up from 1.8% in the previous month, according to figures released by the Statistics Department. The increase was mainly due to higher transport costs and accelerating price growth in several key consumer spending categories. Transport inflation reached 2.0% in August, compared to 1.4% in July, primarily driven by rising costs in public transport services and personal transport equipment.
The price of RON97 petrol increased to RM4.28 per litre from RM4.07 in July, while diesel prices climbed to RM4.60 from RM4.14. Food and beverages, which make up 29.8% of the consumer price index, saw a 1.9% inflation rate, driven by higher costs at home, where food inflation accelerated to 1.4% from 1.2% in July. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation rose by 0.3% in August following its unchanged level in July.
The increase was mainly due to transport costs rising by 0.6% month-on-month, up from a 1.1% decline in July. Personal care, social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services experienced a 0.5% increase, while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels saw a 0.4% rise each. F&B prices, however, grew more slowly by 0.2% compared to 0.3% in July.
Nine states and federal territories recorded inflation above the national rate of 1.9%, with Negri Sembilan reporting the highest at 2.5%, followed by Johor, Kedah, Pahang, and Labuan at 2.3% each. Selangor and Kuala Lumpur had inflation rates of 2.1% each, while Melaka and Putrajaya registered 2.0% each.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
