Mauritius saw prices dip last month as year-on-year inflation edged down to 3.3% in June from 3.4% in May 2014, according to a report by Statistics Mauritius published today.
Moving to the month-on-month comparison, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June 2014 held steady at the previous month’s level of 106.8 points.
However, changes were seen within individual categories between the index for May and June 2014 as ‘vegetables’ and ‘other food items’ both showed an increase of 0.1 points, while ‘motor vehicles’ and ‘other goods and services’ each decreased by 0.1 index points.
Comparing sub-indices for the twelve divisions of consumption expenditure for the month of June 2014 to May 2014, the following major consumption items reinforced the downward trend: alcoholic beverages and tobacco as well as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels both dipped by 0.1 index points to hit 116.3 and 101.3 points respectively.
Also, among other categories,furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance decreased by 0.2 index points to attain 102.7 points; Recreation and culture fell by 0.4 index points to 105.8 points; Transport decreased by 0.5 index points to 105.3 points and finally,clothing and footwear decreased by 0.7 index points to 109.5 points.
On the uptrend, food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.7 index points to reach 108.1 points while both ‘restaurants and hotels’ and ‘miscellaneous goods and services’ climbed by 0.4 index points to attain 111.6 and 105.3 points respectively.
The year-on-year inflation rate is measured by the change in the CPI for June 2014 relative to June 2013.
It may be noted that the year-on-year inflation rate is used by the central bank as a measure of price rise in the island economy and is used as the basis for determining monetary policy.
Finally, data released by the Statistics office also showed that Mauritius’ headline inflation rate for the twelve months ending June 2014 worked out to 4.0% compared to 3.6% for the twelve months ending June 2013.
Image (Orange): Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, as well as housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels were relatively cheaper in June compared to May 2014.
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