Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the increment of the Composite CPI for December 2008 tapered to rise by 6.16% year-on-year to 125.78, the lowest level in 2008. The price indices of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Health; and Clothing & Footwear went up by 14.35%, 13.69% and 9.39% respectively. Among the subgroups of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of rice (+54.83%), canned meat (+40.10%), fresh-water fish (+33.34%), edible oil (+32.38%) and vegetables (+19.28%). For the subgroups of Health; and Clothing & Footwear, charges for medical consultation service and women’s clothings rose by 24.51% and 11.62% respectively. Meanwhile, the price index of Recreation & Culture recorded a year-on-year increase of 6.05% due to higher charges for outbound package tours in the Christmas holidays. In spite of higher rentals for housing (+12.51%) and dearer charges for maintenance & repair services of dwelling (+9.60%), reduced prices of LP Gas (-4.65%) and the electricity subsidy provided by the Government slowed down the year-on-year increment of the index of Housing & Fuels to 2.77%. On the contrary, the indices of Transport and Communication dropped by 8.15% and 6.86% respectively, attributable to the bus-fare subsidy provided by the Government, falling gasoline prices, lower prices of mobile phones and reduced charges for mobile phone services. The CPI-A and CPI-B for December 2008 were 128.05 and 125.14 respectively, up by 6.85% and 5.95% year-on-year. The Composite CPI for December 2008 dropped by 0.27% month-to-month, with the price indices of Transport and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages going down by 4.21% and 0.64% respectively. On the other hand, the price index of Recreation & Culture increased by 2.01%, as a result of higher charges for outbound package tours. Moreover, the CPI-A and CPI-B declined by 0.42% and 0.25% respectively month-to-month. The Composite CPI for the fourth quarter of 2008 rose by 7.48% to 126.23 over the same quarter of 2007, with increase in the price indices of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+16.10%), Health (+13.84%) and Clothing & Footwear (+8.23%). The average Composite CPI for the whole year of 2008 was 124.32 and the annual inflation rate was 8.61%, with marked increase in the indices of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+17.22%), Health (+13.88%), as well as Housing & Fuels (+8.15%). The annual average CPI-A and CPI-B for 2008 was 126.47 and 123.72 respectively, up by 9.08% and 8.44% over 2007. The Composite CPI reflects the impact 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.
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