Malaysia continued to witness a decline in the inflation rate in April with a record of 3.3% from 3.4% recorded in March.
This at once showed that the inflation reading fell to the lowest level since May 2022 or almost a year, after falling from the peak of 4.7% recorded in August.
Meanwhile, core inflation (excluding prices of fresh food and government-controlled goods) registered an increase of 3.6%, down from 3.8% in the previous month.
Among the main contributors to the decline were slower price increases for both the food and transportation categories.
Here are more details on inflation in April:
Food and non-alcoholic beverages down 6.3% from 6.9%
Transport sector down 2.3% from 2.4%
The restaurant and hotel sector fell 6.6% from 7.2%
Housing care, furniture and housing hardware sector less 3.0% from 3.1%
Other goods and services sector rose 2.5% from 2.1%
Recreation and culture sector down 1.8% from 1.9%
The housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel sectors remained at 1.6%
The education sector decreased by 1.6% compared to 1.7%
Health sector less 2.1% from 2.2%
In addition, inflation in urban areas fell to 3.3% compared to 3.6% previously and rural areas also decreased to 2.6% from 2.8% previously.
Malaysia continues to record the lowest inflation reading compared to several other countries, Europe (7.0%), the United States (4.9%), the Philippines (6.6%), Indonesia (4.3%) and South Korea (3.7%).
