Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, has refused to fully explain an apparent discrepancy in inflation figures which suggest a big increase in the fuel and energy sector.

Mr Hayward was first quizzed about the apparent discrepancy – contained in the latest Consumer Price Index bulletin – more than two weeks ago.

The report stated that prices in the fuel and power sector of the economy rose by only 2.6 per cent between July 2021 and June 2022.

But a breakdown of the month-by-month figures for the period revealed that the sector had in fact risen by 18 per cent over the year – including a 6.9 per cent increase in October 2021 and a massive 9.2 per cent jump in April 2022.

To add to the confusion over the figures, the larger number was then used in the calculation to gauge the overall rate of inflation across all nine sectors of the economy.

The Royal Gazette first e-mailed questions to the ministry about the apparent discrepancy on September 26.

Two days later, after no answer had been given, this newspaper was able to quiz Mr Hayward on the matter at a press conference.

Asked if the CPI report contained a typographical error, Mr Hayward replied: “A technical revision was made. We will provide a fulsome response to the media question that was sent to the ministry … we’re in the process of sending you a response.

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Consumer_Price_Index_June_22.pdf

“What I will say is it was brought to my attention that a technical revision was made. We did not highlight that revision when the publication of that document went out and so we will be in a position to provide a response to your media query.“

Two days later, a ministry spokesman issued the following statement: “Improvements to the Consumer Price Index methodology resulted in a revision to the fuel and power sector index number.

“The large discrepancy in the year-over-year percentage change for the fuel and power sector is a result of a calculation using the unrevised June 2021 index number. The 2021 June fuel and power index number was revised from 94.3 to 108.5.”

“Going forward with the 2022 July CPI publication, a disclosure note will be added to the publication to inform the reader of the revision.”

In response, The Royal Gazette e-mailed a series of follow-up questions to the spokesman, including:

•What was the ‘improvement’ in the methodology? Can you provide more details please – perhaps a breakdown of the figures?

•We have two figures for the fuel and power sector – a 18 per cent increase, and a revised figure of 2.6 per cent. According to the ministry, the 2.6 per cent figure is the correct figure following “improvements to the CPI methodology”. If that is indeed the case, why was the unrevised figure of 18 per cent used to calculate the overall rate, rather than the revised figure?

Over the next ten days, The Royal Gazette e-mailed and telephoned the spokesman asking if any response would be given.

Yesterday, (WEDNESDAY) the spokesman replied: “Please be advised that the response previously provided on these two matters still stands.”