Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the Composite CPI for May 2016 increased by 2.64% year-on-year to 108.17, down further from the 3.02% growth in April, representing the lowest year-on-year rise since August 2010. Among the various sections of goods and services, year-on-year growth in the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Housing & Fuels, etc. showed continuous slowdown; meanwhile, the price index of Clothing & Footwear, Communication and Recreation & Culture decreased by 3.93%, 0.75% and 0.14% respectively. On the contrary, increases in tobacco tax, tuition fees, rentals for parking spaces and prices of motor cars pushed up the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Education and Transport by 42.69%, 8.98% and 7.71% respectively year-on-year. The CPI-A (108.28) and CPI-B (107.27) rose by 2.56% and 3.40% respectively year-on-year. The Composite CPI for May 2016 increased by 0.14% month-to-month. Higher prices of some cigarette brands drove up the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco by 4.33%. Price index of both Transport and Clothing & Footwear rose by 0.82% on account of dearer prices of gasoline and women’s summer clothing. On the other hand, notable decrease in vegetable prices offset the rise in prices of fresh pork and eating out, bringing the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages down by 0.27%. Moreover, price index of Housing & Fuels decreased by 0.09% due to lower rentals for dwellings, but rising prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas curbed the decline. The CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 0.13% and 0.21% respectively month-to-month. For the 12 months ended May 2016, the average Composite CPI increased by 3.90% from the previous period. Price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+33.84%) and Education (+7.46%) showed marked increase. The average CPI-A and CPI-B went up by 4.04% and 3.32% respectively over the previous period. The average Composite CPI for the first five months of 2016 increased by 3.33% year-on-year, with the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Education and Transport rising by 39.11%, 8.95% and 7.10% respectively. The average CPI-A and CPI-B rose by 3.33% and 3.31% respectively. The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general households. 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.
