Up Front
CPI Up 2.3 Percentin 2000
The annual average All Items Index for 2000,calculated on a new Base Period of September 1994, stood at 121.7,an increase of 2.3 percent over the 1999 figure of 118.9.
Reasons for the delay in the release ofthese figures are twofold. Firstly, updating the base periodto 1994 (from 1988) was done to better reflect average spendingpatterns. Secondly, a new computer system was introduced which,while it greatly increased the manageability and flexibility ofthe CPI calculation, also caused extended delays.
The increase in the annual average was characterisedby moderate price increases in the second, third and fourth quartersof 2000 and a large increase in the first. This large increasein the first quarter of 2000, when compared with the correspondingperiod in 1999, was due mainly to increases in the Education sub-groupwhich took effect in the second quarter of 1999.
Six of the eight Major Groups registeredincreases, when compared with the previous year. These rangedfrom a high of 4.6 percent in the Education and Medical Group,to a low of 0.4 percent in and Household Equipment. The rise inthe Education and Medical Group was due to increases in both sub-groupshere. The sub-group Education saw a rise of 0.9 percent, due tothe continuing rise in private school fees, while the MedicalCare sub-group had an increase of 11.7 percent, caused by increasesin both visits to private physicians and laboratory tests overthe year.
The other Major Groups with increases werethe Personal Goods and Services Group up by 4.2 percent. Increasesin overseas hotel rates, airfares, bank and laundry charges, andin the cost of hairdressing, photographic and sporting goods,life insurance and cosmetics were mainly responsible for the upwardmovement of this group.
The Food Group increased by 2.9 percent,caused mainly by increases in the prices of evening meals, beefproducts, pork, milk products, cheese, root crops, vegetablesand prepared breakfast cereals. Transport and Communications roseby 2.3 percent, Alcohol and Tobacco by 0.5 percent and HouseholdEquipment by 0.4 percent. The two Major Groups that registereddecreases declined by less than 2.0 percent, and these were Housing,decreasing by 1.9 percent, and Clothing, which declined by 1.6percent.
Compared with the previous quarter, twoof the Major Groups registered declines. These were for Clothing,with a decline of 1.4 percent and Personal Good and Services witha decline of 1.2 percent. The decline in Clothing was due to decreasesin three of the four sub-groups here (Men and Women's Clothing,with a decrease of 1.0 percent, Boys and Girls Clothing with adecline of 1.8 percent and Footwear with a decrease of 2.7 percent).The fourth subgroup, Other Clothing, had no change at all overthe last quarter.
Four of the remaining six major groups registeredonly slight increases in the last quarter. The Food Group hadthe highest increase of 2.0 percent. The other increases for thequarter were all less than or equal to 1.1 percent. These areTransport and Communications 1.1 percent, Education and Medical1.0 percent, and Alcohol and Tobacco 0.4 percent. Housing andHousehold Equipment, the other two Major Groups had zero percentchange over the last quarter.
Further information and the latest statisticson the Consumer Price index can be obtained from the GovernmentStatistics Office, located on the fourth floor of the ElizabethanSquare (Phase Four) Building.
Notes on the Index Compilation
1. For one month in each quarter of theyear namely March, June, September and December, staff of theStatistics Office collect prices for more than 500 different itemson which consumers spend their money, from over 100 differentshops and other outlets in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. Everykind of spending is included, from weekly supermarket trips, schoollunches, mortgage and rental payments to the prices of cars andbicycles. In total about 1,800 prices are collected each quarter.
2. The items have been assigned weightsdepending upon their importance in the total pattern of consumerspending based on the 1990/91 Household Income and Expendituresurvey. The item weights, combined with the prices, are then compiledto arrive at the published index.