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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia recorded 4.5% inflation in September 2022, lower than August’s 4.7% rate, said Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said that on a month-on-month comparison, inflation in September 2022 continued to moderate to 0.1% compared to 0.2% in August 2022, while for the period from January to September 2022, the inflation rate recorded 3.3%.
“Malaysia recorded a lower inflation rate for September 2022 compared to some places such as the eurozone (10.0%), the United States (8.2%), the Philippines (6.9%), Thailand (6.4%), Indonesia (6.0%) and South Korea (5.6%),” he said in a statement today.
The increase in September was mainly contributed by an increase in food group inflation, which moderated to 6.8% compared to 7.2% month-on-month, driven by the slower increase in food component at home at 5.7% compared to 6.4% in August.
“The meat sub-group which includes chicken, beef, pork, lamb, buffalo and duck has recorded a slower increase to 6.6% in September compared to 9.9% in August.
“This is mainly due to chicken, which is the largest component in this sub-group representing 46.1%, showing a significant moderation in price increases, which is 3.7% compared to 10.7% in August,” he said.
Although the milk, cheese and egg group recorded the highest increase of 8.8% in September, it was still slower than the 9.4% increase in August, he added.
Mustapa said chicken eggs, which contributed 22.8% to the overall weight of the milk, cheese and egg sub-group also moderated to 9.0% compared to 12.6% in the previous month.
The vegetable sub-group has also started to moderate in September with 6.3% compared to 8.9% in the previous month.
Among the vegetables and some types of fish that recorded a month-on-month price drop are tomatoes (9.9%), cucumbers (7.8%), French beans (4.2%), drift fish (3.4%) and yellowtail scad (1.2%)
“While the maximum price of pure cooking oil packaged in bottles of various sizes has recorded a decrease with effect from September 8 to October 7, 2022 with the 5kg bottle decreasing the largest from RM34.70 to RM33.50.
“The effect of this initiative can be seen clearly through a small increase of 4.8% for blended oil items compared to 6.6% in August 2022,” he said.
Mustapa said the implementation of the maximum price for bottled palm oil and chicken had a positive impact and relieved consumers, especially traders, from having to cover the high cost of raw materials.
“Although Parliament has been dissolved on October 10, measures to curb price increases will continue to be implemented to ensure that Keluarga Malaysia is not burdened with the increase in the price of goods,” he added.
Among the latest measures taken by the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry are maintaining the ceiling price of retail standard chicken at RM9.40 per kg; and grade A, B and C chicken eggs at 45 sen, 43 sen and 41 sen each.
They also extended the subsidy of 80 sen per kg of chicken and 8 sen per egg for suppliers to December 2022 and are monitoring cartel activities for both products.
He said the government is aware of various complaints published in the mass media especially regarding the lack of subsidised grade A, B and C chicken eggs in the market.
Subsequently, both ministries are constantly monitoring the issue and will present the findings during the special anti-inflation team meeting on October 25.
“This is in line with the government’s efforts to ensure that the country’s inflation rate continues to be under control, especially for food items through stricter control on profiteering activities,” he added. – Bernama, October 21, 2022