1.16% monthly increase on CPI of August 2019.
0.04% annual decrease on CPI of August 2019, compared with August 2018.
The Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of August 2019. The CPI of August 2019 reached to 109.47 point (base year is 2013), showing an increase of 1.16% when compared to CPI of July 2019. Compared to CPI of August 2018, [Y-o-Y basis], a decrease of 0.04% has been recorded in the general index (CPI) of this month.
An analysis [on M-o-M basis] of CPI for August 2019 compared with CPI, July 2019, shows that there are six main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 4.17%, “Transport” by 2.98%, “Food and Beverages” by 1.58%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 1.11% “Education” by 0.93%, and “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.05%. A decrease had shown on “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.60%, and “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.33%. “Tobacco”, “Health”, “Communication”, and “Restaurants and Hotels” groups had remained flat at the last month’s price level. Table (1) show the monthly and annual Comparison for CPI August 2019, and Graphs (1),(2) show the movement of monthly CPIs of “Food and Beverages” and “Housing, Water, Electricity and Gas” between 2018 and 2019.
A comparison of the CPI, August 2019 with the CPI, August 2018 (Annual Change), a decrease has been recorded in the general index (CPI), by 0.04%. This [Y-o-Y] price decrease is primary due to the decreasing prices seen in the four groups, namely: “Recreation and Culture” by 8.32%, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 2.21%, “Health” by 0.08%, and “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.07%.
An increase, has been shown in price levels in eight groups namely: “Tobacco” by 127.19%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 4.38%, Transport” by 2.26%, “Food and Beverages” and “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.91% each, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 1.27%, “Communication” by 1.26%, and “Education” by 0.93%. Graph (3) shows a monthly and an annual change in CPI during August 2018 to August 2019.
The CPI of August , 2019 excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stands at 110.78 points showing an increase of 1.61% when compared to the index of July 2019, and a 0.56% when compared to the CPI of August, 2018. Table (2) presents CPI excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” and Graph (4) shows the annual percentage change of CPI with and without Housing component.
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