Malaysia’s inflation increased at a slower rate of 1.5 per cent in February 2025

Malaysia’s inflation increased at a slower rate of 1.5 per cent in February 2025 with the index points stood at 134.1 as against 132.1 in the same month of the previous year. The increase of inflation in February 2025 was driven by a slower increase in the main groups of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (2.3%); Recreation, Sport & Culture (1.5%); Health (1.0%); Transport (0.7%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (0.3%). Nevertheless, Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services; Education and Insurance & Financial Services recorded a higher increase as compared to prior month at 3.7 per cent (January 2025: 3.3%), 1.9 per cent (January 2025: 1.6%) and 1.5 per cent (January 2025: 0.6%) respectively.

Inflation for information & Communication decreased to negative 5.3 per cent in February 2025, the same rate as in January 2025. This was due to the decline in inflation for the main subgroup of Information & communication services at negative 5.9 per cent. Clothing & Footwear remained at a negative territory and posted negative 0.2 per cent (January 2025: -0.3%). Meanwhile, Restaurant & Accommodation Services (3.5%); Food & Beverages (2.5%) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (0.9%) registered the same increase as the previous month.

Most of the states recorded inflation below the national inflation level of 1.5 per cent. However, inflation for four states were above the national inflation level namely Johor (2.1%), Sarawak (1.9%), Selangor (1.9%), and Melaka (1.6%). All states registered an increase in the inflation of Food & Beverages. The highest rate was recorded by Selangor at 3.5 per cent, followed by Negeri Sembilan (3.1%), Johor (2.9%), Terengganu (2.9%), Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (2.9%), Melaka (2.8%) and Sabah (2.6%). Meanwhile, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of Food & Beverages of 2.5 per cent in February 2025.

The overall monthly inflation for February 2025 increased 0.4 per cent as against January 2025. The increase was mainly contributed by Insurance & Financial Services (0.8%). This was followed by Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.7%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (0.7%); Restaurant & Accommodation Services (0.6%) and Education (0.5%). Meanwhile, core inflation increased at a higher rate of 1.9 per cent as compared to the preceding month (1.8%). The increase was due to Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (3.7%); Transport (2.6%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (2.3%); Education (1.9%) and Insurance & Financial Services (1.5%).

In comparison to inflation in other selected countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.5%) was lower than inflation in Vietnam (2.9%) and Philippines (2.1%). However, the rate was higher than Thailand (1.1%), Indonesia (-0.1%) and China (-0.7%).