December 2021 Consumer Price Index Report
Consumers paid 2.7% more in December than they did a year ago for the basket of goods and services included in the Consumer Price Index [CPI].
A Government spokesperson said, “On Thursday, the Minister of Economy and Labour, the Hon. Jason Hayward, JP, MP, released the December 2021 Consumer Price Index publication from the Department of Statistics.
The Minister explained, “In December 2021, consumers paid 2.7% more than they did in December 2020 for the basket of goods and services.”
Minister Hayward added, “The Transport & Foreign Travel sector continued to be the largest contributor [+12.0%] to the twelve-month increase in the CPI. On average, annual increases were reported in the cost of premium fuels [+11.5%], mixed fuels [+10.8%] and cars [+1.1%]. The Food sector and the Health & Personal Care sector also impacted strongly on the annual rate of inflation, as price increases in these sectors were 3.8% and 3.2%, respectively.”
A spokesperson said, “Between November 2021 and December 2021, the average cost of goods and services decreased 0.2%. Additional areas of note between November and December 2021 are as follows:
- “The price of premium fuels fell 2.2%. As a result, the Transport & Foreign Travel sector declined 1.4%.
- “The Tobacco & Liquor sector declined 0.3% for the month as the average price of wines dipped 0.9%.
- “The Health & Personal Care sector fell 0.1% in December. Decreases were reported in the average cost of toiletries, cosmetics and perfumes [-0.8%] and self-prescribed medicines and household medical supplies [-0.6%].
The Minister explained, “The 2021 annual average inflation rate was 1.5%, up from the 0.0% annual average inflation rate of 2020. The sectors that primarily influenced the increase in the 2021 annual average were Transport & Foreign Travel [+6.4%], Health & Personal Care [+2.3%], Education, Recreation, Entertainment & Reading [+2.0%] and Household Goods, Services & Supplies [+1.7%].”
The full December 2021 Consumer Price Index follows below [PDF here]:
