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• Stability was recorded on CPI of January 2017.
• 1.2% annual increase on CPI of January 2017, compared with January 2016.

        The Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics (MDPS) has released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of January 2017. The CPI of January, 2017 reached to 108.3 showing a constancy, when compared to CPI of December, 2016. Compared to CPI of January, 2016, [Y-o-Y basis] of 1.2% has been registered in the general index (CPI) of this month.
    
 An analysis [on M-o-M basis] of CPI for January, 2017 compared with December, 2016 CPI, shows that there are fourth main groups, where respective indices in this month have increased, namely: “Transport” by 1.6%, “Recreation and Culture” by 0.7%, “Health” by 0.5%, and   “Restaurants and Hotels” by 0.3%.  A decrease in prices is also noticed in “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.7%, followed by “Food and Beverages” by 1.2%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 1.3%, “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.4%, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 0.2%.  The other groups: “Tobacco”, “Communication”, and “Education” have remained flat at the last month’s price level. Graph (2) and (3) - in the attachment below -show the movement of monthly CPIs of “Food and Beverages” and “Housing, Water, Electricity and Gas”.

              A comparison of the CPI, January, 2017 with the CPI, January, 2016 (Annual Change), points a rise in the general index (CPI), by 1.2%. This [Y-o-Y] price surge is primarily due to the increasing prices seen in the six groups, namely: “Transport” by 4.7%”, “Education” by 3.0%, “Recreation and Culture” by 2.8%, “Miscellaneous Goods and Services” by 1.7%, “Furniture and Household Equipment” by 1.3%, and “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” by 0.6%.
 Also, there has been a decrease in price levels in five groups, namely: “Restaurants and Hotels” by 2.7%, “Food and Beverages” by 1.9%, “Clothing and Footwear” by 1.3%, “Health” by 0.2%, and “Communication” by 0.1%. For “Tobacco” group, there is no changes recorded.

The CPI of January, 2017 excluding “Housing, Water, Electricity and other Fuel” group stands at 106.3, showing  an increase by 0.1% when compared to the index of December 2016, and a 1.3% when compared to the CPI of January 2016.

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