Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January to February 2008 increased by 2.5 per cent to 107.7 compared with that of 105.1 in the same period last year. Compared with that of the same month in 2007, the CPI increased by 2.7 per cent from 105.1 to 107.9 and when compared with the previous month, the CPI increased by 0.4 per cent.
CPI changes for the period January – February 2008 / 2007: The 2.5 per cent increase in the CPI was brought about by increases observed in the indices of all the main groups except those of Clothing & Footwear and Communication which decreased by 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.
Other increases were Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+ 3.1 per cent); Recreation Services & Culture (+ 2.6 per cent); Education (+ 1.8 per cent); Furnishings (+ 1.5 per cent).
Taking into account the above changes as well as the weights assigned to the main groups, the relative contribution to the overall increase of 2.5 per cent in the CPI.
Monthly Changes for CPI: Compared with the previous month, the CPI for February 2008 increased by 0.4 per cent. Increases were shown in nine main groups namely Education ( + 0.8 per cent ); Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+ 0.6 per cent); Clothing & Footwear (+ 0.4 per cent); Furnishing ( + 0.3 per cent ); Recreation Services & Culture (+ 0.2 per cent).