Consumer price index data released by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics shows prices for basic items have continued to fall in the past few months.

The Consumer Price Index statistics for November 2020 was 0.4 per cent lower than October 2020 and 0.6 per cent lower than November 2019.

"The decrease of the local goods component by 1.0 per cent reflects lower prices for local food which also contributed to the decrease of 0.4 per cent in the All Items Consumer Price Index," the report reads.

The local food price reductions were specifically recorded for bread, taro, fresh fish, koko Samoa and banana.

The statistics released by the Bureau was revealed through the Consumer Price (C.P.I.), which measures the rate of inflation for Samoa, and was designed to measure the change in prices for goods purchased by households in Samoa.

The report notes that the food and the non-alcoholic beverages division, with a negative contribution of 0.36 per cent, was the main contributor to the overall decrease of 0.4 per cent in the All Division Consumer Price Index. 

"The 0.4 per cent decrease in the overall index was mainly due to a decrease of 0.9 per cent in the Food and non alcoholic Beverages index. The Transport and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels indices also showed decreases of 0.4 and 0.1 per cent respectively," the Bureau reported.

"On the contrary, increases were registered for Health index with 1.9 per cent and Furnishing, Household Equipment and Maintenance index with 0.5 per cent."

Meanwhile, no change was recorded for the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, clothing and footwear, communication, recreation and culture, education, restaurants and miscellaneous Goods and Service.

Also highlighted in the report was the import component recorded an increase of 0.3 per cent from the previous month.

"Increased prices recorded for chicken leg quarter, canned beef and medicine have resulted in the 0.3 per cent increase in the Imported Good Component," the report noted.

In the transport area pricing, decreased prices recorded for fuel, both petrol and diesel have resulted in the 0.4 per cent decrease in the Transport index. 

The country's inflation rate similarly has been declining since April. 

The average inflation rate for the year ended November 2020 was a negative 0.9 per cent, the C.P.I. report also said.