Malaysia’s inflation rate rose to 1.4% in November, driven by education and tobacco prices, with over 60% of items seeing price increases
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s inflation rate rose to 1.4% in November 2025, a slight increase from 1.3% recorded in October.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported the consumer price index stood at 135.1 points compared to 133.3 points a year earlier.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase was mainly driven by faster price gains in the education category, which rose 2.6%.
“This was followed by alcoholic beverages and tobacco, which climbed 2.4% from 0.3% previously, while transport prices increased 0.2% after contracting 0.1% in October,” he said in a statement.
He noted that 61.1% of items, or 350 out of 573, recorded price increases during the month.
Of these, 342 items registered increases of 10% or less, while eight items saw increases of more than 10%.
A further 184 items posted price declines, while 39 items remained unchanged.
Mohd Uzir said the average price of RON97 petrol rose to RM3.24 per litre in November from RM3.18 in October.
The average price of diesel in Peninsular Malaysia increased to RM3.05 per litre from RM2.92.
At the state level, four states recorded inflation above the national rate of 1.4%.
Johor and Negeri Sembilan posted the highest rate at 1.9% each, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 1.7% and Selangor at 1.6%.
Kelantan recorded the lowest increase at 0.2%.
Compared with selected regional peers, Malaysia’s inflation was lower than in Vietnam at 3.6%, Indonesia at 2.7% and South Korea at 2.4%.
It was higher than China’s rate of 0.7% and Thailand, which recorded deflation of 0.5%.
