It’s definitely a good news for my fellow countrymen. Year to date inflation stands at 1.7 percent only as we speak, compared to 3_ percent last year. Maybank KE projection for year 2013 is at 2.7 percent, which, if it stands (but take this as a pinch of salt nonetheless), that means your fixed deposit money beats inflation rate for 2 straights years. Not too shabby! Food and non-alcoholic beverages have always been the main contributors to the weighting of the overall CPI, with fish/seafood being the “culprit”.
Now if you found out your expenses for this year has increased more than 2 percent compared to this year, chances are, that’s personal inflation rate. Which means, the expenses increase are due to conscious or unconscious decision to upgrade your lifestyle. Now this is not wrong, it’s just an objective way to put it. And I suppose if our income or asset growth is higher than our personal+nominal inflation rate combined, that’s okay.
In the same Maybank KE report, it is interesting to note a table showcasing inflation rates of major nations across the globe. I never paid too much attention to this, but am glad I did today. After all, we can’t be the frog that gets too comfortable staying under a coconut shell all the time, can we?
That makes me more contented being a Malaysian (yea yea, not for the political reasons, but we aren’t discussing politics here).
CPI Highlights, by country (Y.O.Y)
- Singapore – 4.7 percent : Fixed Deposit rate at measly 1_ percent
- Thailand & the Philippines – 3+ percent
- US & UK – 2.2 and 2.9 percent
- Brazil – 5.3 percent
- India – 9.0 percent!
- Vietnam – 9.8 percent, was 18.6 percent in 2011 – Holy Crap!
What about Japan, the odd one out, at ZERO percent inflation? Should be heaven on earth in terms of spending power?
Not quite. Japan has been in deflation state since the 90’s. And you think inflation is a bad enough thing, wait till you learn about deflation, which is synonymous with Japan itself. Apparently, a mortality rate which exceeds its birth rate is only one of the alarming scenarios contributing to this.
You may ask, “How come? I see never ending stream of new JAV actresses coming out every year?”
Man, that beats me too. But statistics like this don’t lie (the deflation part, not the number of JAV actresses part)
Just do a quick Google search on “Deflation” at Wikipedia to read what it’s about if you are curious.
Anyway, it’s time to rejoice for the rest of 2012 because you get the maintain your lifestyle without incurring significant expenses hike! (at least, in theory)
Also read: It IS becoming Harder to Grow our Money with Reasonable Return