This year\u2019s January saw a hike in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) by 3.5% to 115.5 against 110.6 in January last year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.<\/p>\n
The CPI measures inflation on the consumer level, and according to a report published by Bernama<\/em>, the higher CPI was due to increments in all 12 major groups, of which the indices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco group (+22.6%); miscellaneous goods and services (+5.5%); health (4.6%); restaurants & hotels (+4.5%); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+4.1%); and food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.9%).<\/p>\n \u201cThe index for food and non-alcoholic beverages (weight: 30.2) rose 3.9%, year-on-year, in January 2016 while the index for non-food (weight: 69.8) recorded an increase of 3.4%,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n The department said on a monthly basis, the CPI slid 0.3% to 114.5 from 114.8 between January 2016 and December 2015.<\/p>\n Of the 12 major groups, nine rose in CPI while three main groups registered declined in last month. The three main groups that saw a decreased are transport (-2.9%); communication (-2.4%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (-0.1%).<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the core inflation rose 3.6% in January 2016, said the department, compared to the corresponding month in 2015.<\/p>\n The \u201cbasket\u201d of goods and services of CPI has been updated based on the Household Expenditure Survey, which was conducted from January to December 2014, said the Statistics Department.<\/p>\n Prior to this update, the \u201cbasket\u201d of goods and services was based on the Household Expenditure Survey conducted from April 2009 to March 2010.<\/p>\n The update was to ensure that the statistics reflect the current patterns in consumer expenditure.<\/p>\n During \u201cbasket\u201d update, the CPI basket weights for individual items, classes and higher level aggregates are updated.<\/p>\n Subsequently, the weights are then expressed at the prices of December 2015 in order to chain indices across the old and new baskets.<\/p>\n The period of December 2015 is called the link month.<\/p>\nThe \u201cbasket\u201d” of goods and services saw an update<\/strong><\/h2>\n