The Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of April 2019. The CPI of April 2019 reached to 108.28 point (base year is 2013), showing an increase of 0.51% when compared to CPI of March 2019. Compared to CPI of April 2018, [Y-o-Y basis], a decrease of 0.39% has been recorded in the general index (CPI) of this month.
An analysis [on M-o-M basis] of CPI for April 2019 compared with March 2019 CPI, shows that there are seven main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Transport” by 3.22%. “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.26%, “Restaurants and Hotels” by 1.13%, “Communication” by 1.07%, “Health” by 0.69%, “Recreation and Culture” by 0.59%, and “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.11%. A decrease had shown on “Food and Beverages” by 1.42%, followed by “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.82%, and “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.34%. “Tobacco” and “ Education” groups had remained flat at the last month’s price level. Table (1) show the monthly Comparison for CPI April 2019, and Graphs (1),(2) show the movement of monthly CPIs of “Food and Beverages” and “Housing, Water, Electricity and Gas” during April 2018 and April 2019.
A comparison of the CPI, April 2019 with the CPI, April 2018 (Annual Change), a decrease has been recorded in the general index (CPI), by 0.39%. This [Y-o-Y] price decrease is primary due to the decreasing prices seen in the five groups, namely: “Communication” by 10.45%, followed by “Recreation and Culture” by 5.62%, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 2.68%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 1.06%, and “Food and Beverages” by 0.67%. An increase , has been shown in price levels in seven groups namely: “Tobacco” by 127.19%, “Education” by 9.25%, “Clothing and Footwear” by 3.11%, “Transport” by 1.68%, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 1.67%, “Health” by 0.83%, and “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.45%. Table (2) shows the annual comparison of CPI April 2019, and Graph (3) shows the monthly and annual comparison of CPI for this month, also graph (4) shows a monthly and an annual change in CPI during April 2018 to April 2019.
Regards the contribution relative, which is a percentage reflects the different contribution of the main groups on the CPI annual rate. For the month of April, 2019, noticed that the “Recreation and Culture” had the highest contribution on the same direction of CPI annual rate, by 176.53%, followed by “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 151.86%. In the opposite direction of CPI annual rate, “Education" contributed by 157.92%. Table (2) and Graph (6) show the contribution of main groups in the annual relative of the general CPI.
The CPI of April , 2019 excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stands at 108.86 points showing an increase of 0.75 % when compared to the index of March 2019, and a 0.26% when compared to the CPI of April, 2018. Table (3) presents CPI excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” and Graph (5) shows the annual percentage change of CPI with and without Housing component.
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