The Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement on May 21 that theincrease in CPI was driven by the spike in fuel prices, with the index oftransport surging by 27 percent compared to April 2020.
Previously, Malaysia’s CPI in March increased by 1.7 percent.
The Southeast Asian country’s GDP in the first quarter of 2021 shrank 0.5percent, much better than the 3.4-percent decline in the fourth quarter of2020. However, this was also the fourth consecutive quarter the countryrecorded economic contraction.
Despite the economic slowdown in the first quarter of 2021 and the Government’sorder to apply the Movement Control Order (MCO) nationwidefrom May 12 to June 7, the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) still maintains its economic growth forecast for the country at 6 - 7.5percent./.