St John’s Antigua, August 24, 2023. The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance releases the CPI for Jun 2023.
Year-on-Year Analysis
The All Items Index increased 2.8% for the twelve months ending June 2023. The lowest inflation rate since January 2022 (+2.9%). The index for Transport was the primary contributor to the annual All Items decrease. The Index accounted for 86.0% of the decrease with the index for Transport declining 12.6%. The decrease was influenced by reductions in the indexes for Transport Services (-16.9%) and Operations of Personal Transport (-15.0%). In the Transport Services category, lower average price fares were recorded for Barbados, Miami and New York,while gasoline and diesel at the pump was reduced over the twelve month period. Gasoline at the pump decreased from $17.50 to $13.99 and Diesel from $17.25 to $14.25.
The index for Food increased 8.4% over the last twelve months. The index for Vegetables rose 10.2% and accounted for 28.2% of the food index increase. The index for Bread and Cereals increased by 9.1% and contributed 17.6% to the food increase. The remaining food-subcategories posted increases ranging from 3.4% to 17.5%.
The Energy Index fell 10.1% over the past twelve months. The decrease was attributed to the decrease of fuel at the pump. Fuel variation remained unchanged at 0.50 cents. The index for All Items Less Food and Energy index rose 2.9% over the past twelve months. An indication that the non-volatile indexes is influencing the all items index. These were primarily the indexes for Communication (+14.5%), Clothing and Footwear (+12.2%), Furnishing Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (+4.9%) and Restaurants and Hotels (+19.6%).
Month-to-Month Price Changes
The Monthly Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% for the month ending June 2023.
The Food index increased 1.0% over the month with mixed results. Six of nine the food subcategories posted increases over the period. The index for Fruit increased 3.5% and the index for Milk, Cheese and Eggs rose 2.4%. Other notable increase were Oils and Fats (+2.3%), Meat and Meat Products (+1.6%) and Vegetables (+1.3%).
In contrast, the index for Food Products N.E.C fell 1.0%. The indexes for Sugar, Jams, Honey, chocolate and Confectionery and Bread and Cereals declined 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.
The Index Non-Alcoholic Beverages rose 0.5% over the month.
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy remained unchanged in June as consequence of the mixed result from the indexes of Transport (0.4) and Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (+0.6%).
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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 this and previous CPI publications can be accessed in the analysis section of the Consumer Price Index Subjects page.
June 2023 Monthly CPI Publication: