St John’s Antigua, The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance, releases the CPI for Oct 2023
Year-on-Year Analysis
The Inflation rate or the All Items Index rose 4.0% for the month ending October 2023. The increase is the smallest twelve-month increase since the period ending June 2023 of 2.8%.
The influential indexes of Communication and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages rose 17.0% and 4.9% respectively offsetting the declines in the indexes for Transport (-3.4%) and Recreation and Culture (-2.3%).
The index for Food increased 4.8% over the last twelve months. The indexes for Fish and Seafood and Vegetable accounted for 51% of the food increase.
The index for Seafood rose 12.7% with the index for Fresh, Chilled, or Frozen Fish and Seafood increasing by 21.9%.
The index for Vegetables rose 4.4%.
The increase was influenced by increases in the indexes for Frozen Preserved or Processed Vegetables and Vegetable based Products (9.7%) and the index for Fresh and Chilled Vegetables (2.0%).
The index for Meat and Meat Products declined 0.3% a smaller decrease than the 5.0% in September. Three of the six Meat and Meat Products subcategories declined except for Pork (6.3%),Delicatessen and Other Meat Preparations (2.5%)and Poultry (1.0%).
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy index rose 4.7% over the past twelve months.
The index continues to be impacted by the increases in the indexes for Communication (+17.1%), Restaurants and Hotels (+8.9%),Clothing and Footwear (7.3%) Miscellaneous Goods and services (5.5%), and Furnishing Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (+5.2%).
Month-to-Month Price Changes
The Monthly Consumer Price Index declined by 1.1% for the month ending October 2023.
The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index increased by 0.3% with the index for Food increasing by 0.2% over the month.
There were subcategories posting increases over the one month period. The four categories offset the decrease in the remaining five subcategories.
The notable increases were in Meat and Meat Products (+5.6%), Fish and Seafood (+2.9%), and Sugars, Jam, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery (+1.8%).
In contrast, the index for Milk, Cheese and Eggs declined by 5.9% after being unchanged index in September.
Similarly, the index for Fruit decreased 4.1% after increasing 12.0% the previous month.
The index for Bread and Cereals fell 1.6% and was impacted by declines in the indexes for Other Cereals, Flour, and Other Products (-5.5%) and Pasta Products (-1.3%).
The index for All Items Less Food and Energy fell 1.4% in October.
The decline was largely attributed to declines in the indexes for Transport Services (-27.9%), Restaurants and Hotels (-4.8%), and Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance (2.5%).
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 Oct 2023 can be accessed on the Division’s official website www.statistics.gov.ag
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