Food prices rise by more than 10% in September, fuel and power up 15%
Food prices continued to surge in September with the Consumer Price Index reporting an increase of more than 10 per cent year-on-year.
Prices in the fuel and power sector also increased by 15.2 per cent, compared with September last hear.
Overall, the September CPI, released yesterday by the Ministry of Economy and Labour, revealed that consumers paid 5.1 per cent more on a basket of goods and services than they did the previous September – a slight rise on the 4.7 per cent figure in August.
The report said: “This means that the basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in April 2015 now costs $113.40.”
The food sector was the largest contributor to the year-on-year changes with a 10.6 per cent hike.
The cost of fruit juices rose by 24.4 per cent year-on-year, while ice cream rose by 21.1 per cent, frozen entrées increased by 20.9 per cent and bread rose by 19.4 per cent.
The month-to-month increase from August to September was 0.5 per cent, including a 1.3 per cent increase in the food sector.
The transport and foreign travel sector meanwhile saw 12-month increases of 9.9 per cent, including a 55.1 per cent increase in the cost of overseas hotel accommodations, 18.5 per cent increases in airfares, 5.5 per cent increases in premium fuel and a 5.2 per cent increase in mixed fuel.
A spokesman said: “The education, recreation, entertainment and reading sector impacted the annual rate of inflation by 4.4 per cent.
“The average cost of tuition fees for local and overseas schools increased 2.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. In addition, the cost of recreational lessons rose 2.2 per cent annually.
“Year-over-year, the fuel and power sector increased 15.2 per cent. Compared to September 2021, the fuel adjustment cost for 700 residential kilowatts hours of electricity rose 49.2 per cent.”
The cost of food included in the CPI basket of goods increased by 1.3 per cent month-on-month from August to September with the largest increases in the area of ice cream (17.4 per cent), red grapes (16.8 per cent) and lettuce (12.8 per cent).
The education, recreation, entertainment and reading sector rose by 0.9 per cent in the month, as did the transport and foreign travel sector.
The rent sector meanwhile rose by 0.3 per cent during the month, while the average cost of properties not subject to rent control increased by 0.4 per cent.
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