Consumer Prices in September, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.3% in the month. This is the same as the increase recorded in September of last year. As a result, the annual rate of inflation remained unchanged at 4.3%.
The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) also rose by 0.3% in the month, the same as the increase recorded in September of last year. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, remained unchanged at 3.2%.
Clothing & Footwear prices increased by 4.3% in the month and decreased by 5.5% in the year to September 2008. This compares to a decrease of 4.0% for the year to September 2007. In the month, clothing prices increased by 4.5% while footwear prices increased by 3.2%.
In the month, price increases were recorded for garments (+4.6%), shoes & other footwear (+3.3%), other articles of clothing (+1.3%), dry cleaning & laundry (+0.7%), dress hire & repair of clothing (+0.6%) and repair & hire of footwear (+0.3%).