KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) declined 2.9% in April to 117.6 against 121.1 in the same month last year, the lowest rate of change recorded since 2010, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the decrease in the overall index was driven by the decline of the transport index (-21.5%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-2.2%) which contributed 14.6% and 23.8% of the overall weight.
“The lower average price of RON95 in April 2020 at RM1.27 per litre compared to RM2.08 in April 2019 contributed to the decrease of the transport and overall index,” he said in a statement today.
In addition, the average price of RON97 decreased to RM1.57 from RM2.71, while diesel declined RM1.49 from RM2.18 in the corresponding month of the preceding year.
“CPI without fuel for vehicles (RON95, RON97 and diesel) is at a positive rate of 0.2% while the core index rose 1.3% in April 2020 compared to the same month last year.
“The core index excludes most volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods and services,” Mohd Uzir said.
Nevertheless, food and non-alcoholic beverages continue to increase in April 2020 by 1.2% to 133.9 compared to 132.3 in the corresponding month of the preceding year, while food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 29.5% to CPI weight.
“Similarly, miscellaneous goods and services also inclined by 2.3%, followed by communication (1.6%), health (1.2%) and education (1.2%),” he added.
On a monthly basis, CPI decreased 2.7% from March 2020, contributed by transport (-13.5%) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-3.8%).
Meanwhile, the CPI for January-April 2020 decreased 0.1% compared to the same period last year. – May 20, 2020, Bernama
