Consumer Price Index for June 2010

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI (104.39) for June 2010 increased by 2.68% year-on-year, attributable to the price increases of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Miscellaneous Goods & Services and Transport. Analyzed by section of goods and services, Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+5.94%); Transport (+5.62%); Clothing & Footwear (+5.36%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+4.49%) and Recreation & Culture (+3.87%) recorded notable increases on account of dearer prices of gold jewellery, airfare, gasoline, men’s clothing, fresh fish and seafood, and vegetables together with rising charges for meals bought away from home and outbound package tours. As for other sections, apart from the 9.81% decrease of the price index of Education, lower charges for mobile phone services drove the price index of Communication down by 3.48%. The CPI-A (103.85) and CPI-B (104.60) for June 2010 increased by 2.03% and 2.91% year-on-year respectively. The Composite CPI for June 2010 increased by 0.32% month-to-month, of which the price indices of Transport and Miscellaneous Goods & Services rose by 1.64% and 0.52% respectively, attributable to rising prices of gasoline and gold jewellery. However, price index of Recreation & Culture fell slightly by 0.01% due to lower prices of audio-visual equipment. The Composite CPI for the second quarter of 2010 increased by 2.67% over the same quarter of 2009, with marked increase in the price indices of Transport (+7.09%), Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+5.62%) and Clothing & Footwear (+5.25%). The average Composite CPI for the first half year of 2010 increased by 2.09% year-on-year. For the 12 months ended June 2010, the average Composite CPI rose by 0.97% from the preceding period. The 2008/2009-based Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP6,000 to MOP18,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP19,000 to MOP34,999.