KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's inflation edged up 1.8 per cent in February 2024 driven by the increase in domestic water tarriffs in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan from Feb 1, 2024, and other groups.

The National Water Services Commission increased water tariff rates by 22 sen per cubic meter.

The increase of 2.7 per cent for housing, water, electricity, gas & other  fuels was contributed by main subgroup of water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, at 29.7 per cent compared with 9.3 per cent in January 2024.

Core inflation increased at the same rate as January 2024, at 1.8 per cent. This was due to the food & beverages and restaurant & accommodation services which recorded increases of 3.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively in February 2024.

The food & beverages group which contributes 29.8 per cent of the total consumer price index (CPI) weight recorded a slower increase of 1.9 per cent in February 2024 (January 2024: 2.0 per cent).

The main subgroup of food at home increased to 0.5 per cent in February 2024 (January 2024: 1.1 per cent).

Meanwhile, the main subgroup of food away from home increased to 3.5 per cent as compared to 3.1 per cent registered in January 2024.

Monthly inflation continued to show an increase of 0.5 per cent (January 2024: 0.2 per cent).

A few main groups that posted increases on a monthly basis were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (1.3 per cent); restaurant & accommodation services (0.6 per cent) and transport (0.4 per cent).

Five states recorded increases above the national inflation level namely Pulau Pinang (2.7 per cent), Pahang (2.4 per cent), Selangor (2.1 per cent), Perlis (2.0 per cent) and Sarawak (1.9 per cent). 

Inflation in Malaysia (1.8 per cent) was lower than inflation in Republic of Korea (3.1 per cent) and Indonesia (2.8 per cent), but higher than China (0.7 per cent) and Thailand (-0.8 per cent).

https://www.nst.com.my/business/economy/2024/03/1030197/malaysias-inflation-18pc-february-after-domestic-water-tariff