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Reduce in Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Biggest drop of Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 50 years with a percentage (%) of 2.9 due to the
outbreak of COVID-19. The drop was caused by the price of transport, household water consumption
and electricity. High employment rate in Malaysia caused people to spend lesser, especially in the
major spending. Consumers are becoming more cautious and spend prudently (Wong, 2020).

There are a few elements heavily affecting CPI in general. Looking into vehicle industry, a significant
drop of 21.8% compared to April 2019. Next, the price of RON95 recorded RM1.27 per litre in April
2020 as compared to RM2.08 in April 2019. Following by RON97 a decrease of RM1.14 from year
2019 to 2020 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, Official Portal).

References

Government website

1) Department of Statistics Malaysia, Official Portal, 20 th May 2020, Consumer Price Index
Malaysia April 2020. [Online].
Available at < https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?
r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=106&bul_id=cE9sL2M3VXFTcGVvOEFOVkVDK1Bwdz09&menu
_id=bThzTHQxN1ZqMVF6a2I4RkZoNDFkQT09#:~:text=Consumer%20Price%20Index%20(CPI)
%20declined,of%20change%20recorded%20since%202010. > [Accessed 4th August 2020].

Online Newspaper

1) Wong, EL., 20th May 2020, Goodbye inflation, here comes deflation. [The Edge Markets].
Available at < https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/goodbye-inflation-here-comes-
deflation > [Accessed 4th August 2020].