Recently announced that Malaysia's annual inflation (CPI) rose to 3.0 percent high in April due to higher food price. This is the highest level in 15 months, the food index jumped 4.7 percent for the first four months of 2008 compared with the same period last year. News sources from TheMalaysiaInsider and more statistics from Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Our hard earn money is getting smaller due to unpredictable economy, we don't know what is going to happen next. Rice is increasing and yet government may increase the petroleum price soon, all this uncertainties will just loom back to us as a consumers.
If you are clueless about what's Consumer Price Index (CPI), you may refer Consumer Price Index as Cost of living index or more exact an index that traces the relative changes in the price of an individual good (or a market basket of goods) over time. Furthermore, our national unemployment rate continues to remain steady at 3.2% for the month of December 2007, it's not so bad after all. But, I have read somewhere an article that says inflation increase will lead to decrease of unemployment rate, which mean that the current unemployment rate at 3.2%, if this is to decrease then we should expect more inflation in the future. Here's the hint that is telling us it's coming more and more, the increasing food prices and recent global upsurge of petroleum prices.
My god, it seems like we are unable to avoid inflation, but it's not too late if you can take opportunities from the advantage of it, to keep up with the inflation. What's your plan? No doubt that fixed deposits are still the most popular form of “investment” in Malaysia. Let's see the best available fixed deposit rates for amounts up to RM 1 million on offer at the moment (source: Bank Negara consumer website www.bankinginfo.com.my - updated 29/8/2007):
| No. | Banking Institution | With Effect From |
Percentage (%) Per Annum | ||||
| 1-mth | 3-mth | 6-mth | 9-mth | 12- mth | |||
| 1 | Affin Bank Berhad | 28/04/2006 | 3.10 | 3.20 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 2 | Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad | 31/05/2007 | 3.10 | 3.10 | 3.50 | 3.60 | 3.70 |
| 3 | AmBank (M) Berhad | 07/06/2007 | 3.10 | 3.25 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 4 | Bangkok Bank Berhad | 03/05/2006 | 3.20 | 3.30 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.75 |
| 5 | Bank of America Malaysia Berhad | 27/05/2005 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.70 |
| 6 | Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad | 08/05/2006 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 3.30 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 7 | Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Malaysia) Berhad | 02/05/2006 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 3.70 |
| 8 | CIMB Bank Berhad | 04/04/2007 | 3.15 | 3.30 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 9 | Citibank Berhad | 01/06/2007 | 3.00 | 3.20 | 3.30 | 3.35 | 3.70 |
| 10 | Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad | 08/05/2006 | 3.10 | 3.10 | 3.25 | 3.40 | 3.75 |
| 11 | EON Bank Berhad | 22/03/2007 | 3.10 | 3.25 | 3.50 | 3.60 | 3.70 |
| 12 | Hong Leong Bank Berhad | 09/05/2007 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.10 | 3.60 | 3.70 |
| 13 | HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad | 17/01/2007 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.05 | 3.70 |
| 14 | J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad | 22/05/2003 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.70 |
| 15 | Malayan Banking Berhad | 30/03/2007 | 3.00 | 3.20 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 16 | OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad | 29/04/2006 | 3.10 | 3.20 | 3.40 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 17 | Public Bank Berhad | 24/07/2007 | 3.05 | 3.20 | 3.40 | 3.40 | 3.70 |
| 18 | RHB Bank Berhad | 23/04/2007 | 3.10 | 3.10 | 3.50 | 3.50 | 3.70 |
| 19 | Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad | 30/07/2007 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.70 |
| 20 | The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad | 06/07/2007 | 3.10 | 3.20 | 3.30 | 3.35 | 3.70 |
| 21 | The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad | 15/05/2006 | 3.10 | 3.10 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 3.70 |
| 22 | United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad | 04/09/2006 | 3.10 | 3.18 | 3.38 | 3.58 | 3.70 |
If the above rates are not what you are looking for, you may consider investing in mutual funds or stock market. It may definitely higher that the above rates, just bear in mind, you need to invest in yourself first before you start to invest, know what you are investing is the rule of thumbs of investment. However, know your risk tolerance level, investment option is a greater risk, you may want to consult an experience financial planner before taking this step.
Lastly, it's all up to you to put your money in investment opportunities or not. After all, we are actually losing money with the increasing of inflation and decreasing of "buying power" that we had discuss earlier.
