Growth of prices continues to slow in June

The inflation rate in June slowed to 2.26 per cent, with the composite consumer price index (CPI) increasing 2.26 per cent year-on-year to 108.29, a further slowdown of 0.38 percentage points from the 2.64 per cent growth recorded in May, the latest data released yesterday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reveals. The increase was justified by the DSEC by higher parking space rentals, increased eating out expenses and increased tobacco prices. According to DESC, the price index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Housing & Fuels in June represented the largest amount of household expenses but when compared to June of last year registered a continuous decline in growth, rising 2.57 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively. The price index for Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco saw the biggest year-on-year increase at 47.16 per cent, followed by Education and Transport with 8.90 per cent and 6.34 per cent increases, respectively Meanwhile, the price index of Clothing & Footwear, Communication and Recreation & Culture decreased by 3.91 per cent, 0.56 per cent and 0.43 per cent, respectively. The CPI-A (108.39) and CPI-B (107.49) rose by 2.56 per cent and 3.31 per cent year-on-year, respectively. Month by month DSEC data also shows that the Composite CPI for June in 2016 increased by 0.11 per cent month-to-month. The increased prices of some cigarette brands drove up the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco by 2.88 per cent from May to June, while the price index of Transport and Clothing & Footwear rose by 1.71 per cent on account of dearer prices of gasoline and new women’s Summer clothing. By contrast, receding vegetable prices offset the rise in prices of fresh pork and eating out, bringing the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages down by 0.14 per cent month-to-month. The price index of Housing & Fuels also decreased by 0.14 per cent due to lower rentals for dwellings, while rising prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas curbed the decline. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.10 per cent and 0.19 per cent month-to-month, respectively, Annualized rate In an annualized comparison for the 12 months ended June 2016 the average Composite CPI increased by 3.67 per cent from the previous period. The price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (up by 38.09 per cent) and Education (up by 7.96 per cent) showed a marked increase. The average CPI-A and CPI-B went up by 3.77 per cent and 3.22 per cent, respectively, over the previous period. The average Composite CPI for the first half of 2016 increased by 3.15 per cent year-on-year to 108.16, while the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 3.14 per cent and 3.24 per cent, respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on general households. The CPI-A relates to about 50 per cent of households which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP29,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30 per cent of households which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP30,000 to MOP54,999.