KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Malaysia's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased moderately by 2.2 per cent to 125.2 in February 2022 from 122.5 in the same month of the preceding year, driven mainly by the increase in food inflation, Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase surpassed the average inflation in Malaysia for the period 2011 to February 2022 of 1.9 per cent.

"The increase in food inflation, which is the largest contributor to the overall weight of CPI, continued to be a major contributor to the country's inflation.

"The 3.7 per cent increase in food & non-alcoholic beverages group was largely due to an increase in the component for food at home which increased 4.1 per cent compared to the same month of the preceding year,” he said in a statement, adding that the increase was mainly for raw cooking materials such as chicken (14.2 per cent) and eggs (13.5 per cent),” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, food away from home also increased 3.6 per cent compared to 3.1 per cent recorded in January 2022.

The rise in headline inflation was mainly driven by the increase in transport group (3.9 per cent) and food & non-alcoholic beverages (3.7 per cent).

This was followed by furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.2 per cent); restaurants & hotels (2.6 per cent) and recreation services & culture (1.6 per cent).

He also said the transport group increased 3.9 per cent due to the low base effect with the setting of the RON95 unleaded petrol ceiling price effective March 2021 (RM2.05) which was higher compared to the average price of RM1.96 per litre in February 2021.

On a monthly basis, the CPI increased by 0.2 per cent compared to January 2022, attributed to recreation services & culture (0.4 per cent); restaurants & hotels (0.4 per cent); and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.3 per cent).

Elaborating further, Mohd Uzir said inflation for the group income below RM3,000 increased 2.4 per cent in February 2022 as against February 2021, with the food & non-alcoholic beverages group increasing 3.9 per cent, 0.2 percentage point higher than the same group in the headline inflation.

Core inflation measures changes in the prices of all goods and services, excluding volatile items of fresh food as well as prices of goods controlled by the government. It registered an increase of 1.8 per cent in February 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year.

"The increase in world oil prices and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia may affect the supply chain and have a ripple effect across the global economy.

"This will likely have implications on the transportation cost and thus national inflation. Currently, the government is still maintaining the RON95 unleaded petrol and diesel prices to protect consumers from the effects of oil price increases in the global market,” he explained.

As for the CPI by states, he noted that all states recorded increases in CPI with two states showing increases above the national inflation level of 2.2 per cent with the highest increase recorded by Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (2.9 per cent). ― Bernama