KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s inflation rose modestly to 1.4% in February 2026, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbing to 136.0 from 134.1 a year earlier, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said.
In a statement today, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said eight categories recorded slower year-on-year growth compared with January 2026.
These included insurance and financial services at 4.7% (January: 5.5%), education 2.8% (3.2%), restaurant and accommodation services 2.5% (3%), and food and beverages 1.3% (1.5%).
Other groups showed marginal increases, with health rising 1.2% (1.4%), housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels up 1.1% (1.2%), and information and communication advancing 0.5% (0.7%).
Meanwhile, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services increased to 6.9% (6.6%), while alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose to 2.6% (2.5%).
According to DOSM, about 59.7% of items (342 of 573) recorded price increases, of which 333 items (97.4%) increased by 10% or less, while only nine items rose by more than 10% in February.
The remaining 190 items (33.2%) declined, and 41 items remained unchanged.
The food and beverages group, which contributes 29.8% of total CPI weight, rose slower at 1.3% in February compared with 1.5% in January, driven by food away from home (2.4%; January 2.5%) and food at home (0.3%; January 0.6%).
Inflation in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels group slowed to 1.1% from 1.2% in January, driven by water supply and miscellaneous services related to dwelling, 6.8% (7.1%) and actual rentals for housing, 1.5% (1.9%).
DOSM said the average price of unleaded petrol RON97 remained at RM3.11 per litre in February.
The average price for diesel in Peninsular Malaysia rose to RM2.98 per litre from RM2.89 in January, while in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan it remained at RM2.15 per litre. The average market price of RON95 increased slightly to RM2.55 per litre (January: RM2.54) compared with the subsidised price of RM1.99.
Mohd Uzir said eight states recorded inflation above the national rate of 1.4% – Pahang (2.1%), Labuan (2.1%), Negeri Sembilan (2%), Sabah (1.8%), Johor (1.7%), Penang (1.6%), Terengganu (1.6%), and Kuala Lumpur (1.6%). Kelantan recorded the lowest inflation at 0.2%.
All states registered higher food and beverage inflation except Kelantan (-0.7%).
Seven states exceeded the national food and beverages inflation rate of 1.3%, led by Negeri Sembilan (3%), Pahang (2.3%), Johor (2.1%), Kuala Lumpur (1.8%), Penang (1.7%), Kedah (1.6%) and Malacca (1.4%).
Month-on-month, headline inflation rose 0.2% in February (January 0.1%), driven by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.7%; January 0.3%), transport (0.2%; -0.4%) and clothing and footwear (0.1%; 0%). Five groups recorded no monthly changes: food and beverages, furnishings and household equipment, health, recreation, sport and culture, and insurance and financial services.
Regionally, Malaysia’s 1.4% inflation in February 2026 was lower than that in Indonesia (4.8%), Vietnam (3.4%), the Philippines (2.4%) and South Korea (2%) but higher than in China (1.3%) and Thailand (-0.9%).
