A market in Malaysia (Photo: Bernama)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s consumer price index(CPI) in April increased 2.3 percent to 125.9 compared with 123.1 in thesame month last year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia has said.
The increase surpassed the average inflation in Malaysia forthe period of between January 2011 and April 2022 (1.9 percent).
Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said foodinflation in April was higher at 4.1 percent with 89.1 percent of food items inthe food and beverages group recording increases.
He pointed out that the increase in food inflation, whichcontributed the highest to the overall weight of CPI, remained a majorcontributor to inflation. Inflation for this group increased 4.1 percent inApril 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year.
On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.2 percent comparedto March 2022, attributed by food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport,recreation services and culture, and restaurants and hotels which increasedmarginally by 0.4 percent, respectively.
According to a Moody’s Analytics report, Malaysia will beamong the economies that will win big from the high commodity prices and willpay less of a price on the inflation side as it exports several times of itsdomestic production.
It highlighted that Malaysia, Colombia, Indonesia, and SaudiArabia were among the few economies that would benefit from the high commodityprices.
Senior economist Jesse Rogers said in an analysis titled"Emerging Market View: The Growth Recession” that for Indonesia and Malaysia,it will be palm oil whose price has surged./.
