Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the increase of the Composite CPI tapered further to rise by 5.78% year-on-year to 126.53, although the Lunar New Year fell in January this year. The price indices of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Clothing & Footwear; and Recreation & Culture went up by 12.25%, 12.09% and 11.23% respectively over January 2008.
Among the subgroups of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of rice (+42.38%), canned meat (+32.83%), fresh fish (+27.48%), fruit (+14.92%) and vegetables (+12.47%). For the subgroups of Clothing & Footwear; and Recreation & Culture, price indices of child and infant clothing, women’s clothing and outbound package tours increased by 16.77%, 16.09% and 42.84% respectively.
Meanwhile, price index of Miscellaneous Goods & Services increased by 6.22% due to rising charges for hairdressing services. In spite of higher rentals for housing (+11.58%), lower prices of LP Gas (-4.65%) and the electricity subsidy provided by the Government decelerated significantly the year-on-year increment of the index of Housing & Fuels to 1.72%.
On the contrary, the price index of Transport dropped by 7.44% year-on-year, on account of falling gasoline prices and the bus-fare subsidy provided by the Government.
The CPI-A and CPI-B for January 2009 were 128.81 and 125.84 respectively, up by 6.10% and 5.62% year-on-year.
The Composite CPI for January 2009 rose by 0.59% month-to-month, with the price indices of Recreation & Culture; Transport; and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increasing by 3.07%, 1.16% and 1.10% respectively. On the other hand, price index of Communication decreased by 1.99% due to lower prices of mobile phone and reduced charges for mobile phone services. Moreover, the CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 0.59% and 0.56% respectively month-to-month.
For the 12 months ended January 2009, the average Composite CPI rose by 8.39% over the preceding period.
The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP3,000 to MOP9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP19,999.
