In November 2022, the Consumer Price Index, CPI decreased by 0.1 per cent as compared to October 2022. This was mainly driven by the decrease in Non-Food Index by 0.3 per cent due to the decrease in air fares.
However, Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index showed an increase of 0.4 per cent was primarily caused by an increase in onion prices. This is primarily due to a shortage of available stock from producing countries, which coincided with unpredictable weather. As compared to November 2021, the CPI had increased by 3.1 per cent. The rise in year-on-year changes was parallel with the increase in prices of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, and Non-Food prices by 5.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.
The increase in Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages was due to the rise in food prices such as Oil and Fats 21.6 per cent; Meat 12.2 per cent; and Rice and Cereals 5.6 per cent. The increase in the price of Non-Food component was driven by Miscellaneous Goods and Services 13.5 per cent; Restaurants and Hotels 4.5 per cent; and Transport 1.8 per cent. Miscellaneous Goods and Services prices rose mainly due to the increase in the price of vehicle insurance influenced by the market prices of cars. Moreover, Restaurants and Hotels price increase was in line with the rise in cost of contract catering services. Meanwhile, the increase in the prices of Transport was mainly due to the rise in motor vehicle prices.
The CPI is a measure of price changes of goods and services paid by the consumer in a specified period and compiled on a monthly basis. The list of goods and services in the CPI is based on the average expenditure per household from the Household Expenditure Survey.
The CPI full report for November 2022 is available from DEPS’s website at ‘deps.mofe.gov.bn’.
Source: Radio Television Brunei