Malaysia’s inflation increased at a slower rate of 1.4 per cent in March 2025

Malaysia’s inflation increased at a slower rate of 1.4 per cent in March 2025 with the index points stood at 134.1 as against 132.2 in the same month of the previous year. The increase of inflation in March 2025 was driven by a slower increase in the group of Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services, 3.6 per cent (February 2025: 3.7%), followed by Restaurant & Accommodation Services, 2.9 per cent (February 2025: 3.5%) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels, 1.9 per cent (February 2025: 2.3%).

Inflation for Education (2.2%) and Recreation, Sport & Culture (1.7%) recorded an increase as against February 2025 respectively. Meanwhile, Food & Beverages (2.5%), Insurance & Financial Services (1.5%), Health (1.0%) and Transport (0.7%), increased at the same rate as recorded in the previous month.

12 states recorded increases below the national inflation rate of 1.4 per cent with Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan recorded the lowest increase at 0.6 per cent in March 2025. However, four states recorded increases above the national inflation level namely Johor (2.1%), Selangor (1.8%), Negeri Sembilan (1.7%) and Melaka (1.6%). All states registered an increase in the inflation of Food & Beverages. The increase was recorded by Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya at 3.6 per cent, followed by Negeri Sembilan (3.4%), Selangor (3.3%), Johor (2.9%), Sabah (2.9%), Melaka (2.8%), Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan (2.8%), while, other states showed an increase below the national inflation of Food & Beverages of 2.5 per cent in March 2025.

The inflation rate for the first quarter of 2025 increased slower to 1.5 per cent as compared to the same quarter of the preceding year (Q4 2024: 1.8%). The increase was attributed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels, 2.3 per cent; Health, 1.0 per cent; Transport, 0.7 per cent and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance, 0.4 per cent. The monthly headline inflation in March 2025 remained unchanged as compared to February 2025. Although there were increases in Education (0.5%); Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.3%) and Food & Beverages (0.1%) in March 2025, there were offset by the decrease in Transport (-0.2%), Restaurant & Accommodation Services (-0.1%) and Information & Communication (-0.1%) group. Meanwhile, core inflation increased to 1.9 per cent, the same rate as recorded in February 2025. The increase was mainly driven by Food & Beverages (3.7%); Personal Care, Social Protection & Miscellaneous Goods & Services (3.6%) and Restaurant & Accommodation Services (2.9%).

In comparison to inflation in other selected countries, inflation in Malaysia (1.4%) was lower than inflation in Viet Nam (3.1%) and Philippines (1.8%). However, the rate was higher than Indonesia (1.0%), Thailand (0.8%) and China (-0.1%).