KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): Malaysia’s inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell 0.2% year-on-year to 120.9 points in March, from 121.1 points a year ago.

This was mainly affected by a decrease in the index of Transport (8.9%), which contributed 14.6% of the overall weight, but was countered by the increase in the index of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (1.6%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (1.2%), the statistics department said in a statement.

“Out of 552 items covered in CPI, the price of 337 items increased in March 2020 as against March 2019. On the contrary, 163 items declined while 52 items were unchanged.

“Based on the performance of 552 items by category of goods and services, Non-Durable Goods (296 items) is a category that experienced the most price increase with 195 items, 84 items decreased and 17 items were unchanged compared with Services, Semi-Durable Goods and Durable Goods,” said Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Sri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

On a monthly basis, the CPI decreased 1.2% compared with February 2020, contributed by Transport (-8.7%), Restaurants and Hotels (-0.2%).

Segment-wise, the lower average price of RON95 in March, which recorded RM1.74 per litre compared with RM2.08 in March 2019, contributed to the decrease of the transport and overall index, the department said.

Nevertheless, Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, which contributes 29.5% to the CPI weight, continued to increase in March by 1.2% to 134.1 points compared with 132.5 points in the corresponding month of the preceding year.

Similarly, Miscellaneous Goods & Services also inclined by 2.6%, followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (1.6%), Communication (1.5%), Health (1.4%) and Education (1.3%).