Malaysia 2012 Consumer Price Index

Consumer Price Index Malaysia April 2012 (Updated: 23/5/2012)

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the period January to April 2012 increased by 2.2 per cent to 104.5 compared with that of 102.3 in the same period last year. Compared with the same month in 2011, the CPI for April 2012 registered an increase of 1.9 per cent from 102.6 to 104.5 and when compared with the previous month, the CPI remained unchanged at 104.5.

The index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food for the month of April 2012 showed increases of 2.3 and 1.6 per cent respectively as compared to the same month in 2011. For the period January to April 2012, the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Non-Food increased by 3.2 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively. Compared with the previous month, the index for Non-Food increased by 0.2 per cent while the index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased by 0.3 per cent (Table 1).

 

CPI changes for the period January - April 2012 / 2011

The 2.2 per cent increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of Communication ( - 0.7 per cent ) and Clothing & Footwear ( - 0.4 per cent ). Notable increases among these main groups with high weights were Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages ( + 3.2 per cent ); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels ( + 1.8 per cent ) and Transport ( + 1.4 per cent ). Other increases were Restaurants & Hotels ( + 3.7 per cent ); Education and Miscellaneous Goods & Services by 2.8 per cent respectively; Recreation Services & Culture ( + 2.7 per cent ); Health and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance by 2.2 per cent respectively. The index for Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco remained unchanged at 104.6.

Table 1 : CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR MAIN GROUPS, MALAYSIA (2010=100)

Group	Wt.	Index					% Change
		Apr 2011	Mar 2012	Apr 2012	Jan - Apr 2011	Jan - Apr 2012	Apr 2012/ Mar 2012	Apr 2012/ Apr 2011	Jan - Apr 2012/ 2011
TOTAL	100.0	102.6	104.5	104.5	102.3	104.5	0.0	1.9	2.2
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages	30.3	104.0	106.7	106.4	103.5	106.8	-0.3	2.3	3.2
Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco	2.2	104.6	104.6	104.6	104.6	104.6	0.0	0.0	0.0
Clothing and Footwear	3.4	99.8	99.4	99.5	99.9	99.5	0.1	-0.3	-0.4
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels	22.6	101.2	103.0	103.0	101.1	102.9	0.0	1.8	1.8
Furnishings, Household Equip. & Routine Household Maintenance	4.1	101.2	103.5	103.6	101.1	103.3	0.1	2.4	2.2
Health	1.3	102.2	104.2	104.4	102.0	104.2	0.2	2.2	2.2
Transport	14.9	104.2	104.9	105.2	103.6	105.0	0.3	1.0	1.4
Communication	5.7	99.9	99.3	99.2	100.0	99.3	-0.1	-0.7	-0.7
Recreation Services & Culture	4.6	101.9	103.2	103.2	100.6	103.3	0.0	1.3	2.7
Education	1.4	102.1	104.6	104.8	101.7	104.5	0.2	2.6	2.8
Restaurants and Hotels	3.2	105.1	108.4	108.6	104.3	108.2	0.2	3.3	3.7
Miscellaneous Goods & Services	6.3	101.3	104.1	103.9	101.2	104.0	-0.2	2.6	2.8
Non-Food	69.7	102.0	103.5	103.7	101.8	103.5	0.2	1.6	1.7
Durable Goods	6.5	100.2	100.7	100.2	100.1	100.7	-0.5	0.0	0.6
Semi-Durable Goods	4.4	100.2	100.2	100.3	100.2	100.3	0.1	0.1	0.1
Non-Durable Goods	41.6	103.8	105.4	105.3	103.5	105.6	-0.1	1.4	2.0
Services	47.5	102.1	104.5	104.6	101.7	104.4	0.1	2.4	2.7

Based on the above changes and the weights assigned to the main groups, the relative contribution to the overall increase of 2.2 per cent in the CPI can be identified as shown in Table 2. The three main groups, Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels and Transport together accounted for 76.0 per cent of the overall increase recorded for the current period.