Malaysia's headline consumer price index accelerated to its fastest level in about two years on price increases in the food and information and communication sectors, according to data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia released Friday.
The consumer price index jumped 2% year over year in May, the highest since July 2024, but slower than the consensus forecast of 2.1% growth tracked by Investing.com, and compared with a 1.9% expansion recorded in the previous month.
Food and beverage inflation jumped 1.4% in May compared with a 1.2% rise in April, the DOSM said. Information and communication prices rose 2.1% during the month compared with 2% during the previous month.
Utilities, including housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, saw prices grow 1.2% in May, faster than the 1.1% rise in April. Recreation, sport, and culture items expanded 1.1%, faster than the 0.9% increase seen a month ago.
Other items such as transport saw inflation slow to 3.8% in May, from 4.1% in April, while that of restaurants and accommodations dragged to 2.5% from 2.6%.
Education prices slowed to 2.2% from 2.4%, while health prices decelerated to 1.2% from 1.4% in the previous month.
Meanwhile, without fuels, inflation rose to 1.8% in May from 1.7% in April, DOSM said.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items, remained steady at 2% when compared with the previous month.
On a month-over-month basis, Malaysia's headline CPI climbed 0.1%, compared with a 0.4% increase in the previous month.
Malaysian inflation has been slower compared with other Asian countries as oil prices have begun deflating following the peace deal with the U.S. and Iran, Malaysian news site The Edge reported separately on Friday.
The inflation rate comes amid an economic comeback for Malaysia, which has shown more stability compared with ASEAN peers Indonesia and the Philippines, due to its close ties with Singapore, according to Bloomberg Opinion's Daniel Moss.
