Statistics Office release Honiara Consumer Price Index for late 2006

The Statistics Office of the Solomon Islands Department of Finance and Treasury today released the Honiara Consumer Price Index figures for November and December 2006 respectively.

The consumer price index or CPI is a measure of the level of inflation. CPI measures how much the price of consumer goods and services has changed over a given time period. The CPI reflects spending patterns for urban consumers. It is usually published monthly and can be used as an economic indicator and a means of adjusting dollar values.

The overall index for the month of November slightly rose by 0.3 percent (341.5) compared to (340.5) in October. These increases resulted mainly from a 2.1 and 1.3 percent price rise recorded in Clothing&Footwear and Miscellaneous Items respectively which also include minor increases in other subindexes. These were however, out weighed by a 4.9 percent decrease in the food sub-index.

The December Index recorded a drop of 0.3 percent (340.5) compared to previous month. The decrease was mainly due to drop in prices of Food items (-1.8 percent) and Drinks & Tobacco sub-index (-2.1 percent). The other subindexes recorded insignificant increases or remain fairly stable.

For imported goods, annual inflation for the 3 months to November increased to 8.1 percent from 7.3 percent in October whilst December recorded a rate of 8.9 percent.

Domestically produced goods increased to 6.3 percent during the month as compared to 5.6 percent in October, whilst December rate marginally increased by 6.6 percent.

Source: GCU