Today, the Minister for the Cabinet Office the Hon. Wayne L. Furbert, JP, MP, issued the December 2020 Consumer Price Index (CPI) publication.
The Minister explained, “In December 2020 consumers paid 0.3 per cent more than they did for the CPI basket of goods and services in December 2019. Between November 2020 and December 2020 the average cost of all goods and services declined 0.1 percentage points.”
Minister Furbert added, “The Food sector was the largest contributor to the 12 - month increase in the CPI, up 2.7 per cent. On average, the price of fresh and frozen leg of lamb (+28.9 per cent) and fresh and frozen pork lions (+24.7 per cent) were the leading factors in the year-over-year increase in this sector. The Health & Personal Care and Education, Recreation, Entertainment & Reading sectors also impacted strongly on the annual rate of inflation, with measured increases of 2.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.”
Additional areas of note in the December 2020 CPI are as follows:
- Between November 2020 and December 2020 Food sector prices fell 0.3 per cent on average. Consumers paid less for sweet biscuits (-6.6 per cent), soft drinks (-5.2 per cent) and bagged apples (-4.1 per cent).
- The Rent sector edged up 0.5 per cent for the month. The increase was attributed to the 0.3 per cent rise in rent-controlled properties. Rental units not subject to rent control advanced 1.1 per cent.
- The Tobacco & Liquor sector dipped 0.6 per cent reflecting a decrease in the average price of spirits (-1.0 per cent).
- The Transport & Foreign Travel sector prices abated 2.2 per cent on average as decreases in air fares (-13.0 per cent) and overseas car rental costs (-7.3 per cent) were reported for the month.