VAR Model: The Economic Indicators and the Inflation in Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55677/SSHRB/2025-3050-0303%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Keywords:
Inflation, VAR, MalaysiaAbstract
Inflation is the dominant enemy for the cost of living. Meanwhile, cost of living is a sensitive issue for rakyat and also focused by the government. Nowadays, implementation of Sales and Service Tax (SST), decreasing the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR), fuel price and fuel subsidy issue and fluctuation of Ringgit Malaysia had been worried will increase the cost of living in Malaysia. This paper is investigating the relationship between the inflation with the interest rate, money supply and the exchange rate in Malaysia. As the model is not cointegrated, the Vector Autoregression (VAR) model is applied. The results revealed that the interest rate have a negative relationship with the inflation meanwhile the money supply and the exchange rate have a positive relationship with the inflation. Bank Negara Malaysia should ensure that the money supply is in suitable level because the relationship of the money supply have significant positive relationship at 5% of the confidence intervals with the inflation in Malaysia.
References
Amoah, E., Nyarko, E., & Asare, K. (2015). FDI, inflation, exchange rate and growth in Ghana: Evidence from causality and cointegrated analysis. European Scientific Journal, 11(31), pp. 294-304.
Bank Negara cuts OPR to 2.75pct as pre-emptive measure. (2020, January 22). New Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/business/2020/01/558815/bank-negara-cuts-opr-275pct-pre-emptive-measure.
Bank Negara lowers OPR by 25bps to 2.5%. (2020, March 3). The Stars. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/03/03/bank-negara-lowers-opr-by-25bps-to-25.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2010). Determinants of Inflation in Malaysia. Retrieved from http://www.bnm.gov.my/files/publication/ar/bm/2010/cp01_003_rencana.pdf.
Bank Negara Malaysia. (2020). Consumer price index, interest rate, money supply and exchange rate. Retrieved from https://www.bnm.gov.my.
Engsted, T. & Tanggaard, C. (2002). The relation between asset returns and inflation at short and long horizons. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 12(2), pp. 101-118.
Gillman, M. & Nakov, A. (2004). Granger causality of the inflation-growth mirror in accession countries. Economics of Transition, 12(4), pp. 653-681.
Granger, C.W. (1988). Some recent development in a concept of causality. Journal of Econometrics, 39(1-2), pp. 199-211.
Ho, W.F. (2020, February 24). Malaysian stocks, ringgit fall on political crisis. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/02/24/malaysian-stocks-ringgit-fall-on-political-crisis.
Jacobs, D., Pereca, D. & Williams, T. (2014). Inflation and Cost of Living. Bulletin Reserve Bank of Austria, March Quarter 2014, 33-46.
Johansen, S. (1995). Likelihood-based Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Joseph, K. (2019, October 8). RON95 price to be floated. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/10/08/ron95-price-to-be-floated.
Kanchan, D. & Chandan, K.M. (2011). Relationship between inflation and economic growth in Malaysia: An econometric review. International Conference Economics and Finance Research IPEDR vol. 4. Singapore: IACSIT Press.
Lee, B.S. (1992). Causal relations among stock returns, interest rates, real activity and inflation. The Journal of Finance, 77(4), pp. 1591-1603.
Mishkin, F.S. (1995). The economics of money, banking and financial market. New York: Harper Collins.
Mishra, A. & Mishra, V. (2010). A VAR model of monetary policy and hypothetical case of inflation targeting in India. Monash University, Department of Economics, Monash Economics Working Paper.
Mishra, P.K., Mishra, U.S., & Mishra, S.K. (2010). Money, Price and Output: A causality test for India. International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, 53, pp. 26-36.
Olurunfemi, S. & Adeleke, P. (2013). Money supply and inflation in Nigeria: Implications for national development. Modern Economy, 4, pp. 161-170.
Oner, C. (2010). Back to Basics: What is Inflation? Retrieved from https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/pdf/basics.pdf.
OPR cut to 3pc: Bank Negara. (2019, May 7). New Strait Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/business/2019/05/486353/opr-cut-3pc-bank-negara.
Ringgit falls in line with weaker oil price. (2019, September 3). The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/09/03/ringgit-falls-in-line with-weaker-oil-price.
Royal Malaysian Customs Department. (2015). Answer to 106 questions. http://gst.customs.gov.my/en/cp/SiteAssets/106%20Questions%20Response%20by%20Customs.pdf.
Royal Malaysian Customs Department. (2018). MySST. Retrieved from https://mysst.customs.gov.my/.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Social Science and Human Research Bulletin

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.