KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia registered an inflation rate of 1.2 per cent in May 2025, the lowest in 51 months, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 134.4 versus 132.8 a year ago, according to the Statistics Department Malaysia (DOSM).
In a statement today, it said Malaysia’s slower inflation trend as an open economy was in line with selected countries and region, namely Eurozone (1.9 per cent), South Korea (1.9 per cent), Indonesia (1.6 per cent) and the Philippines (1.3 per cent), in tandem with the decline in global oil prices.
“The decline was also reflected in the Producer Price Index, which registered a -3.4 per cent in April 2025,” it said.
The mining sector was the main contributor with a -17.8 per cent (March 2025: -15.0 per cent) due to a fall in crude petroleum extraction of -19.8 per cent, it said.
The food and beverages group, which contributes 29.8 per cent to the CPI, rose more slowly at 2.1 per cent in May 2025 versus the 2.3 per cent in April 2025.
“The subgroup of food-at-home did not record any changes in May 2025 versus April 2025, which increased 0.5 per cent,” it said.
However, the food-away-from-home subgroup was up 4.4 per cent versus 4.3 per cent in the preceding month.
Moreover, DOSM said a few groups recorded a higher increase compared to April 2025; restaurant and accommodation services, 3.0 per cent (April 2025: 2.9 per cent), health, 1.1 per cent (April 2025: 0.9 per cent) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance, 0.2 per cent (April 2025: 0.1 per cent).
The information and communication and the clothing and footwear groups remained in negative territory, registering -5.2 per cent and – 0.2 per cent, respectively.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said 342 out of 573 of the items, or 59.7 per cent, recorded price increases.
Of the 342 items, 330 items (96.5 per cent) registered an increase of less than or equal to 10 per cent, while 12 items recorded increases of more than 10 per cent in May 2025.
“However, 180 items (31.4 per cent) showed a decline and 51 items remained unchanged, which, to a certain extent, offsets the inflation from increasing further,” he said.
In line with global oil market price changes, diesel in May 2025 recorded a slower 12.4 per cent price increase compared with the 15 per cent in April 2025.
The average price for diesel in Peninsular Malaysia was RM2.81 per litre against RM2.15 in May 2024 (April 2025: RM2.95), while the average price of diesel for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan remained at RM2.15 per litre.
Meanwhile, unleaded petrol RON97 remained at a negative range of 10.4 per cent versus -6.3 in April 2025. The average price of unleaded petrol RON97 in May 2025 was RM3.11 a litre against RM3.47 in May 2024 (April 2025: RM3.25).
Mohd Uzir said 11 states recorded increases below the national inflation rate of 1.2 per cent, with Kelantan recording the lowest rise at 0.3 per cent in May 2025.
Five states recorded increases above the national inflation level, namely Johor (1.8 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (1.6 per cent), Selangor (1.5 per cent), Melaka (1.5 per cent) and Kuala Lumpur (1.4 per cent).
