Industry Experts Link Malaysia’s Latest CPI Decline to Economic Hardship Caused by Rising Unemployment

Although economists were not surprised by the sharp decline in the April 2020 Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers released by authorities, consumers have been viewing the CPI data in a different light. According to the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA), unemployment was cited as the key reason for 2.9% year-over-year (YoY) fall in the CPI to a record low of 117.6, with this decline being much lower than the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance (MIDF)’s estimate of -1.5% YoY.

Datuk Paul Selvaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the FOMCA, noted that despite overall price reductions, consumers were still not able to benefit. This was due to tight financial positions of consumers resulting from the...