The Central Statistical Office announced the release of the Index of Retail Prices for the month of December 2022.
Index of Retail Prices:
The All Items Index of Retail Prices calculated from the prices collected for the month of December 2022 was 123.2, representing an increase of 0.5 points or 0.4% above the Index (All Items) for November 2022 as shown in the table attached.
The Index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased from 145.9 in November 2022 to 149.0 in December 2022, reflecting an increase of 2.1%. Contributing significantly to this increase was the general upward movement in the prices of chilled or frozen beef; fresh beef; chilled or frozen pork; tomatoes, cucumber; chive; carrots; celery; bodi; mixed fresh seasoning; ochroes and table margarine. However, the full impact of these price increases was offset by the general decreases in the prices of onions; white flour; cabbage; salted pig tail; eddoes; green (sweet) pepper; pimento; full cream milk; oranges; ketchup and red fish- fresh.
A further review of the data for December 2022 compared with November 2022 reflected a decrease in the sub-index for Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of 0.2%. All other sections remained unchanged.
Inflation Rate:
The Inflation Rate for December 2022 (measured as the percentage change in the average All Items Index for the period January to December 2022/January to December 2021) was 5.8%. This represents an increase from 5.6% which was recorded in the previous period (January to November 2022/January to November 2021). The Inflation Rate for the comparative period (January to December 2021/January to December 2020) was 2.0%.
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