Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI (104.06) for May 2010 increased by 2.76% year-on-year, attributable to the price increases of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Transport. Price indices of Transport; Miscellaneous Goods & Services; Clothing & Footwear and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages rose by 6.60%, 5.66%, 5.55% and 4.94% respectively, on account of dearer prices of unleaded gasoline; motor cars; gold jewellery; men’s and women’s clothing; fresh fish and seafood; and vegetables, as well as higher charges for meals bought away from home. On the contrary, 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 3.53%. The CPI-A (103.61) and CPI-B (104.24) for May 2010 increased by 2.15% and 2.97% year-on-year respectively. The Composite CPI for May 2010 increased by 0.37% month-to-month, of which the price indices of Clothing & Footwear; and Recreation & Culture rose by 3.16% and 0.96% respectively, attributable to rising price of men’s and women’s clothing and higher charges for outbound package tours. However, price indices of Transport and Communication fell by 1.52% and 0.14% respectively on account of lower prices of gasoline and mobile phone. The average Composite CPI for the first five months of 2010 increased by 1.97% year-on-year. For the 12 months ended May 2010, the average Composite CPI rose by 0.83% 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.
