The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) is reporting some significant price increases across several categories of items during the 12-month period ending December 2018.
The report, issued yesterday by the Statistics Division within the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance, noted that prices for all products have increased overall by 1.7 percent.
In the food item section, prices for jams and jellies saw the largest increase with a 40 percent upsurge during the 12-month period ending December 2018.
Additionally, meat prices saw an increase of 7.4 percent, with prices for lamb registering an increase of 12.1 percent and fish prices increasing by 21.7 percent.
Moreover, prices for hot beverages soared by 24.5 percent, and fruit juices saw an increase of 21.3 percent.
Dairy products, such as milk and cheese, saw a 2.4 percent growth, with milk rising by 2.1 percent, cheese growing by 2.8 percent, and egg prices increasing by 2.6 percent.
Other products, such as clothing and footwear, furniture and medical expenses, have also increased, with women’s clothing rising by 10.6 percent.
Other food increases included butters and oils at 1.9 percent, sugar at 0.8 percent, syrups at 9.2 percent, condiments and spices by 3.7 percent, and cereal by 3.8 percent.
However, prices for pork, starchy foods, non-alcoholic beverages and personal care products saw significant decreases with pork decreasing at 10.1 percent; starchy foods going down by 4.7 percent; non-alcoholic beverages dropping by 2.8 percent and personal care products falling by 4.1 percent.
The CPI also reported that the monthly change in prices saw some increases, with the largest price increase between the months of November 2018 and December 2018.
Vegetables registered a 10 percent price growth.
Syrups rose by 5.5 percent and fruit juices rose by 3.1 percent. The most significant decreases in food prices over the one-month period was starchy foods with 8.9 percent and fruits by 2.7 percent.
Overall, the CPI stated that food prices moved 0.6 percent between November and December 2018.