Starting from October 2019, the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) releases the new CPI series rebased to the period of April 2018 to March 2019. The Composite CPI (102.68) for October 2019 increased by 2.86% year-on-year, up by 0.13 percentage points from the 2.73% growth in September 2019. The increment was attributable to higher charges for eating out, rising rentals for dwellings and dearer prices of pork and gasoline.

Among the various sections of goods and services, price indices of Education, Transport and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages surged by 5.24%, 4.85% and 4.76% respectively year-on-year, whereas the indices of Communication and Clothing & Footwear dropped by 2.57% and 1.93%. The CPI-A (102.68) and CPI-B (102.66) saw respective increases of 2.75% and 3.77% year-on-year.

The Composite CPI for October 2019 rose by 0.29% month-to-month. Price indices of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Transport went up by 0.67% and 0.45% respectively, driven by the ongoing growth of fresh pork prices, higher charges for eating out and dearer gasoline prices. Price index of Housing & Fuels grew by 0.15% owing to rising rentals for dwellings and higher Liquefied Petroleum Gas prices; yet, reduced electricity charges offset part of the increase. On the other hand, lower charges for package tours drove down the price index of Recreation and Culture by 0.64%. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.30% and 0.22% respectively month-to-month.

For the 12 months ended October 2019, the average Composite CPI increased by 2.82% from the previous period, with notable growth in the price indices of Education (+5.78%) and Transport (+4.91%). The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 2.76% and 3.29% respectively over the previous period.

The average Composite CPI for the first ten months of 2019 went up by 2.78% year-on-year. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 2.70% and 3.38% respectively.

The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households in Macao. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP12,000 to MOP35,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP36,000 to MOP62,999.

The newly rebased CPI is revised according to the results of the 2017/2018 Household Budget Survey, and leasing information on residential units from the Financial Services Bureau is applied in the compilation of the index of rentals for housing to enhance representativeness of the index. As compared to the previous base period, Housing & Fuels surpassed Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages to account for the largest expenditure weight due to increased household expenditure on rentals for housing. Meanwhile, the weight of Transport and Clothing & Footwear decreased owing to reduced expenditure on purchase of motor cars, clothing and footwear by households.