Malaysia - Consumer Price Index (CPI)

For Malaysia, our extract of the detailed consumer price index consists of the general index and core index.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the percentage change through time in the cost of purchasing a constant “basket” of goods and services representing the average pattern of purchases made by a particular population group in a specified time period. The “basket” is of an unchanging or equivalent quantity and quality of goods and services, consisting of items for which there are continually measurable market prices over time. Changes in the costs of items in the basket are therefore due only to “pure” price movements, i.e. price movements that are not associated with changes in the quality and / or quantity of the set of consumer goods and services in the basket.

Active:

• Classification: UN COICOP
• Measurement: Fixed-base index relative to 2010 (Index 2010=100)
• Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
• Native frequency: Monthly
• Start date: 2011m1

Predecessor:

• 2005=100 - 2005 to 2010

This “basket” covers a wide range of goods and services, classified according to the United Nations “Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP)” in the following twelve groups:

1.  Food and Non-alcoholic beverages
2.  Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
3. Clothing and footwear
4. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels
5. Furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance
6. Health
7. Transport
8. Communication
9. Recreation services & culture
10. Education
11. Restaurants & hotels
12. Misc. goods & services

The Consumer Price Index for each region measures price changes from one time period to another within the specific region. Thus, while regional CPI show the movements of prices over time in each region they do not indicate price level differences between regions.

Malaysia’s index is a composite index, weighted by regional expenditure weights of three regional indices computed separately for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

Prices

The prices used in the calculation of the CPI are retail prices irrespective of whether they are described as regular or special inclusive of all sales and excise taxes applicable to individual commodities. The prices are collected each month during a fixed time period. Prices are collected on a monthly basis for all items except for perishable food items where the collection is done on weekly basis. Rent at value is an exception where the prices are collected once in a quarter. The selection of outlets in which prices are to be collected is purposive (other than for rents) with the sample designed to cover outlets with high sales turnover. Prices of 460 items are used in the computation and these are obtained from about 20,000 retail outlets in Peninsular Malaysia, 2,200 outlets in Sabah and 2,400 outlets in Sarawak.

Weights

The weights used in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index are periodically updated. This procedure is necessary to ensure that the weights reflect changes in consumer expenditure pattern thereby maintaining the relevancy of the index.

Annex 1 shows the comparison of the 2000 and 2005 expenditure weights used in the Consumer Price Index by major components for Malaysia.

Core index

The "core index" (core CPI) excludes most volatile items of fresh food as well as administered prices of goods and services. 

Moody's Analytics supplements

For the general index, we extend the history to 1957 using IMF data, and construct a seasonally adjusted counterpart.

Further reading

At the source:

• Consumer Price Index Malaysia March 2021 (press release, English, Apr 2021)

At IMF (SDDS):

• Price index: Consumer prices