The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.6 percent at the end of the first half of the year, when compared with the Index at the end of 2023.
This is according to the Mid Year Report released by the Ministry of Finance yesterday. The figure presented will raise queries as there have been long-running public concerns that the continual rise in prices is not being adequately reflected in official figures.
The report said that the increase in the CPI is a reflection of higher food prices, specifically fruits and fruit products, which accounted for 0.4 of a percentage point of the overall increase. Cereals and cereal products and vegetables and vegetable products also contributed to higher food prices, with each category accounting for 0.3 of a percentage point. At the end of June 2024, the 12-month inflation rate stood at 4 percent. This is on account of an increase in the price of food, which contributed 3.8 percentage points to the overall 12-month inflation rate. Within this, prices for vegetables and vegetable products accounted for 1.8 percentage points, while cereals and cereal products and meat, fish, and eggs each contributed 0.5 of a percentage point.
“Despite continued imported price pressures, we anticipate that our proactive Government measures will help to contain commodity prices. As such, the end-of-year inflation projection is updated to 3.2 percent for 2024”, the report added.
