Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI (107.16) for January 2011 rose by 4.92% year-on-year; the increment was attributable to rising index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages; Miscellaneous Goods & Services; and Housing & Fuels. Among the different sections, notable increase was observed in the price index of Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+9.21%), Clothing & Footwear (+6.86%), Transport (+6.71%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+6.13%) and Health (+5.75%), which was caused by higher charges for meals bought away from home, hairdressing and grooming services, and outbound package tours, dearer prices of clothing and footwear, airfare and general food items near the Lunar New year, as well as rising prices of gasoline and LP-gas. On the contrary, reduced charges for mobile phone services lowered the price index of Communication by 8.35% year-on-year. The CPI-A (106.49) and CPI-B (107.37) for January 2011 rose by 4.75% and 5.05% year-on-year respectively. The Composite CPI for January 2011 increased by 0.93% month-to-month, with marked increase in the price indices of Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+2.83%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+1.93%), and Transport (+1.04%); however, price index of Communication registered a decrease of 8.03%. Meanwhile, the CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 1.11% and 0.89% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended January 2011, the average Composite CPI rose by 3.21% from the preceding period; at the same time, the average CPI-A and CPI-B increased by 2.75% and 3.37% respectively. 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.
