Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI showed continuous slowdown in growth, rising by 2.08% year-on-year to 108.35 in July 2016, a decrease of 0.18 percentage points from the 2.26% growth in June. The increment was attributable to higher rentals for parking spaces, dearer charges for eating out, as well as increases in motor car prices and property management fees. Among the various sections of goods and services, price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Housing & Fuels that accounted for the largest shares of household expenditure slowed down further in growth, rising by 2.42% and 0.12% respectively year-on-year. Meanwhile, price index of Clothing & Footwear decreased by 2.73%. On the other hand, price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Education and Transport rose by 12.64%, 8.89% and 7.11% respectively. The CPI-A (108.43) and CPI-B (107.61) increased by 1.97% and 3.08% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for July 2016 edged up by 0.05% month-to-month. Higher charges for package tours during summer holidays drove up the price index of Recreation & Culture by 3.17%. Price index of Transport increased by 0.24% on account of rising airfares, higher rentals for parking spaces, and dearer prices of motor cars; meanwhile, retreating gasoline prices partially offset the increase. On the contrary, price index of Clothing & Footwear decreased by 2.16% owing to seasonal sale of summer clothing & footwear; moreover, lower rentals for dwellings and receding prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas pushed down the price index of Housing & Fuels by 0.16%. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.04% and 0.13% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended July 2016, the average Composite CPI increased by 3.45% from the previous period. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+36.20%) and Education (+8.45%) showed marked increase. The average CPI-A and CPI-B went up by 3.50% and 3.17% respectively over the previous period. The average Composite CPI for the first seven months of 2016 increased by 3.00% year-on-year, and the average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 2.97% and 3.22% respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households in Macao. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP29,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP30,000 to MOP54,999.
