St John’s Antigua, July 21, 2023. The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance releases the CPI for May 2023.
Year-on-Year Analysis
The All Items Index increased 5.4% for the twelve months ending May 2023. Almost two-thirds (65.0%) of the increase was driven by increases in the indexes for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Communication and Restaurant and Hotels. The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages had the largest contribution of 26.0% while the index for Communication and Restaurant and Hotels accounted for 25.2% and 13.8% respectively.
The index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased 7.7% with the Food Index increasing 7.8% over the last twelve months. Four of the nine food sub-categories accounted for 68.1% of the food increase (Vegetables, Bread and Cereals, Meat and Meat Products, Food Products N.E.C.).The index for Vegetables rose 6.8% over the twelve months ending May 2023. The index for Bread and Cereals increased by 9.7%, the index for Meat and Meat Products rose 7.0% while the index for Food Products N.E.C rose 11.5%. The remaining food-subcategories posted increases.
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy rose 5.8% over the past twelve months. Four of the influential indexes remained unchanged from the April year on year increase. These were Communication (+14.4%), Clothing and Footwear (+12.2%), Furnishing Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (+4.6%) and Restaurants and Hotels (+19.7%).
Month-to-Month Price Changes
The Monthly Consumer Price Index declined by 1.8% for the month ending May 2023. The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased by 0.8% with the index for Food declining by 0.9% over the month. Five of nine food sub-categories posted decreases over the one month period. Notable decreases were Oils and Fats (-2.9%), Fish and Seafood (-4.7%) and Milk, Cheese and Eggs (-6.4%).The remaining decreases ranged from Food Products N.E.C (-0.1%) to Meat and Meat Products (-1.2%).
In contrast, the index for Fruit recorded the largest increase of 4.4%, this follows a 0.3% decline in the previous month. The index for Sugar, Jams, Honey, chocolate and Confectionery rose 2.9% with the index for Sugar increasing 5.4% over the one period.
The index for Non-alcoholic Beverages rose 0.3% in May after a 0.6% decrease in the previous month. The increase was attributed to increases in the index for Mineral Water (+1.2%) and Soft Drinks and Concentrates (+1.9%).
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy fell 2.2% May. The decline was largely attributed to the 20.4% decline in the index Transport Services speciall Airline fares. Except for the United Kingdom fares, fares to the Barbados, St. Maarten and United States declined. All other categories remained unchanged over the one period.
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Methodology
What is the consumer price index (CPI) measuring and how is it done?
The All Items Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the main measure of what is commonly called inflation, or headline inflation. It measures the change in prices, on average, from month to month, and from year to year of the goods and services bought by most households.
Prices are collected monthly and quarterly from supermarkets and other suppliers of goods and services. The pattern of household expenditure on these goods and services is derived from a regular household budget (or expenditure) survey (HBS). The prices and spending patterns (known as weights) are then combined to calculate the price indices for groups of goods and services and for the All Items index. These indices are based on expenditure patterns in 2006.
The All Items (or overall) index, with all of its twelve (12) component indices, is published each month. For a detailed account of the methodology used in calculating the CPI, please call the Statistics Division.
Copies of the CPI for May 2023 can be accessed on the Division’s official website www.statistics.gov.ag.
May 2023 Monthly CPI Publication: