Tweet

Whatsapp

Main points ● In November 2020, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was 0.27 per cent, down from 0.35 per cent in October 2020 (Table 2). ● The twelve-month moving average rate for November stood at 0.72 per cent (Table 2).¹ ● The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the Food Index, while the largest downward impact was recorded in the Transport and Communication Index (Chart 3).

Overview

The Retail Price Index measures monthly price changes in the cost of purchasing a representative basket of consumer goods and services, and is closely linked with the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increases and periodic rent payment adjustments. A closely related measure of price movements is the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). For a description of the differences between the RPI and the HICP, refer to Section 5.2 of this release. Each monthly RPI News Release includes three different measures of inflation: The annual inflation rate measures average price changes between the reference month and the same month of the previous year. Although responsive to recent changes in price levels, this measure can be influenced by one-off effects in either month.

The monthly inflation rate compares price changes between the reference month and the previous month. This measure can be highly influenced by seasonal effects. The 12-month moving average rate overcomes the volatility of the above two rates by comparing the average of the latest 12 indices to the average of the previous 12 indices. This measure is less sensitive to temporary changes in prices. Thus, this rate is used for the computation of the COLA and adjustments in wages, rents, etc.

Price changes and effects on inflation

Table 1 shows that the highest annual inflation rates in November 2020 were registered in the following main groups: Personal Care and Health (2.76 per cent) and Food (1.63 per cent). On the other hand, the lowest annual inflation rates were registered in Clothing and Footwear (-2.65 per cent) and Household Equipment and House Maintenance Costs (-1.95 per cent).

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NSO

FOLLOW THE UPDATES ON NSO