News Release: Hamilton – Minister for the Cabinet Office, Wayne Furbert today released the December 2019 Consumer Price Index publication from the Department of Statistics.
In December 2019 consumers paid 0.5 percent more for the CPI basket of goods and services than they did in December 2018.
Between November 2019 and December 2019 the average cost of all goods and services declined 0.5 percentage points.
The Health & Personal Care sector was the largest contributor to the year-over-year change, increasing 4.1 percent.
In addition, the Food and Tobacco & Liquor sectors contributed to the rise in the annual rate of inflation as price shifts in these sectors were 2.6 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.
Between November and December the Fuel & Power sector declined 1.5 percent as the fuel adjustment clause dipped 4.5 percent in December. The Transport & Foreign Travel sector recorded a 2.8 percent decrease.
The average cost of air fares, overseas hotels and overseas car rentals and drove the decline, with decrease of 10.7 percent, 3.7 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
On the month, the average cost of food prices fell 0.1 percent for the month. Among the main items contributing to the decline were cookies (-11.3 percent), flour (-3.4 percent) and mayonnaise (-3.1 percent).
The Tobacco & Liquor sector rose 0.2 percent reflecting an increase in the average price of wines (+0.6 percent).
The December 2019 Consumer Price Index is available online at www.gov.bm/bermuda-business-statistics.
