KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd expects Malaysia’s full-year inflation to reach 2.8 per cent in 2025, mainly driven by the changes in government policies. In a research note yesterday, the investment bank said the changes in policies include the government plans on subsidy rationalisation. “Malaysia’s headline inflation decelerated to 1.7 per cent yearon-year (y-o-y) in December 2024 on the back of the slower non-food inflation.
“Non-food inflation further eased to 1.1 per cent y-o-y (November 2024: 1.4 per cent) due to the deflation in clothing and footwear, and information and communication, and slower inflation in the health, recreation, sports and culture, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods, and services components,” it said. MIDF Amanah projected that the overnight policy rate (OPR) will remain at 3.0 per cent in 2025 due to the lack of significant demand pressures on inflation. The investment bank opined that the current rate remains supportive of Malaysia’s economic growth. Recently, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said that Malaysia’s inflation rate for December 2024 has moderated to 1.7 per cent, with the index points standing at 133.4 as against 131.2 in the same month of the previous year. Furthermore, Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to maintain the OPR at 3.0 per cent during its meeting on Wednesday. – BERNAMA
