Consumer Price Index for August 2008

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI for August 2008 rose by 8.70% year-on-year to 125.79, of which the price indices of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, Health and Clothing & footwear soared by 18.37%, 14.36% and 9.86% respectively. Among the subgroups of Food & non-alcoholic beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of rice (+74.88%), canned meat (+66.97%), fresh beef (+59.22%), edible oil (+53.73%), fresh water fish (+38.63%), noodles (+35.09%), chilled or frozen pork (+30.37%), fresh pork (+27.63%), salt-water fish (+25.57%) and meals bought away from home (+15.04%). For the subgroups of Health and Clothing & footwear, charges for medical consultation service (+25.43%), clothing materials (+30.30%) and garments for women (+13.71%) registered marked increase. Despite significant increase in the price index of air passenger transport (+16.97%), the index of Transport registered a slow down in year-on-year growth from +12.70% in July to +8.88%, owing to the exemption of consumption tax on automotive fuels and lubricants, as well as lower gasoline prices following the price drop of petroleum in the international market. Notwithstanding the increase in the price indices of LP Gas (+24.00%), charges for maintenance & repair services of dwelling (+17.81%) and rentals for housing (+14.89%), the year-on-year increment of the index of Housing & fuels was similar to that of last month, at 6.8%, benefiting from the electricity subsidy provided by the Government. On the other hand, the price indices of Education and Communication decreased by 5.83% and 5.04% respectively year-on-year due to higher government subsidies to students studying in schools that did not join the free education network and lower charges of mobile phone service. The CPI-A and CPI-B for August 2008 were 127.95 and 125.10, up by 8.99% and 8.57% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for August 2008 edged up by 0.02% month-to-month, with the price indices of Recreation & culture and Housing & fuels rising by 1.69% and 0.95% respectively, on account of higher charges for outbound package tours during Summer Holiday and rising rentals for housing. On the contrary, the index of Transport recorded a 3.73% decrease, as a result of the exemption of consumption tax on automotive fuels and lubricants. Meanwhile, the CPI-A increased by 0.04% whereas the CPI-B decreased by 0.02% over the preceding month. The average Composite CPI for January to August went up by 8.99% over the same period of 2007. For the 12 months ended August 2008, the Composite CPI rose by 8.17% over the preceding period. The Composite CPI reflects the impacts of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP3,000 to MOP9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP19,999.