Consumer Price Index December 2012

Details

Economy

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 02:29

By press release

Antigua St. John's - The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance, the Economy & Public Administration releases the CPI for December 2012.

Year-on-Year Analysis

In December 2012 the annual rate of inflation was measured at 1.8%.

Price changes in the Food category show a 2.6% increase compared to December 2011. This was primarily due to increases in the prices of Dairy Products, Fats & Oils and Bakery & Cereal Products. The average price of evaporated milk increased from $3.05 to $3.66, cooking margarine increased from $6.47 to $7.26 and corn meal increased from $1.70 to $1.97 per pound.

The inflation rate decreased 0.3% percentage points from the November 2012 rate. Some of the influencing factors were:

- A decrease of 1.0% in the Meat category: the average price of chicken thighs decreased from $24.94 to $19.64, and mutton decreased from $14.72 to 13.79.

- The Sugar, Jams & Confectionery category decreased by 2.5% as a result of the reduction of the average price of white sugar per pound from $1.78 to $1.66.

The Fuel & Light index increased by 5.2% over the same period due to an increase in the fuel variation rate from 74 cents in December 2011 to 80 cents in December 2012.

There was a 0.2% increase in the All Items index between November 2012 and December 2012. The index for the Food category had an increase of 0.9% between the same period. This was related to increases in Fats & Oils, Bakery & Cereals and Dairy Products.

The average price recorded for soya oil (1 litre) increased from $10.02 to $10.65, Corn meal increased from $1.86 to $1.97 per pound and condensed milk increased from $3.65 to $4.15.

The Fuel & Light index had no change from previous month. The fuel variation rate remained at 80 cents in December 2012.

Alcoholic Drinks and Tobacco recorded an increase of 0.5%, attributed to an increase in the average price for imported beer.

The Other (Miscellaneous) index recorded an increase of 0.4%, attributed to average price decrease in toilet paper and toilet soap.

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