Samoa recorded an 0.7 per cent increase in the Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.) for the month of August.

The month-on-month increase was revealed in a new report from the Samoa Bureau of Statistics: “Consumer Price Index August 2020”.

The C.P.I. is a measure of the change in selected categories of goods or services and is designed to track the effect of inflation in costs worn by consumers. 

According to the report, the C.P.I. for August 2020 was 0.7 per cent higher than it was in July and considerably lower on a yearly basis, or a drop of 2.8 per cent when compared to August 2019. 

The increase of the imported goods component by 1.1 per cent from the previous month was due to higher prices for fuel, laptops, soap,s and imported food which also contributed to the increase of 0.7 per cent in the broader All Items Consumer Price Index. 

The local goods component also registered an increase of 0.2 per cent from the previous month.

The continued increase of oil prices internationally in August pushed local fuel prices up as reflected in the 3 per cent growth increase in the Transport Index.

The Recreation and Culture Index also increased by 0.8 per cent while the average annual inflation for the year ending in August 2020 was 0.9 per cent.

By contrast, the Miscellaneous Goods and Services Index recorded a decrease of 0.6 per cent, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels registered a decrease of 0.2 per cent respectively.

No changes were recorded for the health, communication and education indices.  

The average annual inflation rate for the year ended August 2020 slowed to 0.9 per cent. For the twelve months leading up to August 2019 the rate of inflation was 1.3 per cent. 

The Imported Goods Component of the Consumer Price Index registered an increase of 1.1 per cent when compared to the previous month. This increase was mainly due to higher prices recorded for fuel (petrol, diesel, and kerosene), imported food, laptop, washing soap, and futon mattresses.

Increased prices recorded for local food and meal (chicken & chip) have resulted in the 0.2 per cent increase in the Local Good Component.

An increase of 0.5 per cent in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index was a reflection of the higher prices recorded for chicken leg quarter, taro, rice, fresh fish (piece, string and large), salted beef, stewing beef,(Samoan cocoa) koko samoa, mutton neck, tomato and [giant taro] taamu.