• 0.2% increase on CPI of August 2016,compared with July 2016
• 2.9% annual increase on CPI of August 2016.
  

  The Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics (MDPS) has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of August 2016. The CPI of August, 2016 reached to 108.7 showing an increase of 0.2% [M-o-M basis], when compared to CPI of July 2016. Compared to CPI of August 2015, [Y-o-Y basis] of 2.9% has been registered in the general index (CPI) of this month.
    
  An analysis [on M-o-M basis] of CPI for August, 2016 compared with July, 2016 CPI, shows that there are five main groups, where respective indices in this month have risen, namely: “Food and Beverages” by 1.1%, “Transport” by 0.8%, “Clothing and Footwear” by 0.4%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 0.3%, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.1%. A decline in prices is also noticed in “Recreation and Culture” by 0.7%, and “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.1%. The other groups: “Tobacco”, “Furniture and Household Equipment”, “Health”, “Communication”, and “Education” have remained flat at the last month’s price level. Graph (4) and (5) show the movement of monthly CPIs of “Food and Beverages” and “Housing, Water, Electricity and Gas”.

   A comparison of the CPI, August, 2016 with the CPI, August, 2015 ( annual change), points a rise in the general index (CPI), by 2.9%. This [Y-o-Y] price surge is primarily due to the increasing prices seen in the eight groups, namely: “Education” by 7.1%, “Recreation and Culture” by 7.0%, “Miscellaneous  Goods and Services” by 4.9%, “Transport” by 4.4%,  “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 3.8%, “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.6%, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 1.5%, and “Communication” by 0.1%. Also, there has been a decrease in price levels in other groups, namely: “Restaurants and Hotels” by 3.2%, “Food and Beverages” by 1.8%, and “Health” by 1.0%. For “Tobacco” group, there is no changes recorded. Graph (1) shows the monthly and annual comparison for CPI of August 2016.
 
  The CPI of August, 2016 excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stands at 106.8, shows an increase by 0.3% when compared to the index of July 2016, and a 2.6% when compared to the CPI of August, 2015. Table (2) presents CPI excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” and Graph (3) shows the monthly percentage change of CPI with and without Housing component.

For more details, click here