The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance releases the CPI for Sep 2024
Year-on-Year Analysis
The All Items Index increased 5.6% for the twelve months ending September 2024 the smallest twelve-month increase since March 2024 (+4.9%). The Food index increased 3.7% over the last year and the All Items Less Food and Energy rose 5.9% over the same period.
The index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased 4.2%. The index for Food rose 5.9% over the last twelve months and the index for Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased 11.7%.
Over the same the period index for Meat and Meat Products rose by 8.5% and the index for Sugars Jam, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery increased by 7.7%.
The index for Milk, Cheese, and Eggs increased by 6.4% while the index for Bread and Cereals rose by 5.0%.
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy index rose 5.9% over the past twelve months, a smaller increase than August 2024 of 7.5%. The decrease was primarily affected by an 18.3% decrease in the index for Transport Services.
Over the year, the average airline fares declined from $3668.68 to $2538.69 resulting in 21.0% decreases in the Passenger Transport by air index.The remaining index categories of core inflation rose over the twelve months.
The indexes for Miscellaneous Goods and Services (+22.4%), Communication (+16.5%), Purchase of Vehicle (+20.9%), and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco and Narcotics 11.7% are the main factors in the All Items Less Food and Energy increase.
Other indexes with notable increases over the last year include Restaurants and Hotels (+9.9%) Health (+8.2%) and Actual Rental for Housing (+2.3%).
Month-to-Month Price Changes
The Monthly Consumer Price Index declined 2.3% in September after rising 2.3% in August 2024.
The index for Transportation declined 15.5% in September while the index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased 0.7% over the one month.
The Food index increased 1.1% after declining 0.6% in August. Five of nine food group indexes increased over one month. The largest increase was for the index for Fruit which increased by 7.8%. The remaining index increases ranged from Vegetables (+0.8%) to Fish and Seafood (+2.8%).
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy fell 3.3%. The index for Transport Services decreased 33.7%. This was attributed largely to a decrease in fares to Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. The index for Actual Rentals for housing declined 0.8% over the one month. Altrenatively,increases were recorded for the indexes ranging from Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance (+0.1%) to Restaurants and Hotels (+4.0%). All other remaining indexes remained unchanged.
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 Sep 2024 can be accessed on the Division’s official website www.statistics.gov.ag
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