Consumer Price Index up 0.3%

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Consumer Price Index in November this year increased 0.3 per cent month on month, based on statistics released by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE).

Price increases in goods and services under transport, clothing and footwear as well as restaurants and hotels categories were the chief contributors to the November inflation.

“An increase of 0.8 per cent was recorded in transport due to higher cost of motor cars, spare parts and accessories of vehicles as well as passenger transport services by air,” said the JPKE.

It also noted that clothing and footwear increased by 1.9 per cent due to higher prices of clothing materials, several garments, dressmaking charges for women’s clothing as well as shoes and other footwear.

The restaurants and hotels category also increased by 0.9 per cent due to higher prices of select food items from fast-food outlets, canteens and other eating places as well as outside catering services, said JPKE.

On the other hand, price decreases were recorded in categories including furnishing, householdequipment and routine household maintenance due to lower prices of furnishings.

Lower costs of telephone and telefax equipment resulted in a 0.3 per cent price decrease in the communications category.

The JPKE said that year on year the CPI rose 1.0 per cent in November 2013, also due to the higher index for transport and clothing and footwear.

The January-November 2013 average CPI increased 0.4 per cent from the same period the previous year. Again, this is due to the higher index for several categories including food and non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, transport, recreation and culture, education, and restaurants and hotels, JPKE said.

CPI is a measure of price changes of goods and services paid by the consumer in a specified period. The list of goods and services in the CPI is based on the average expenditure per household from Brunei’s Household Expenditure Survey.

The Brunei Times