The
Development Planning Unit
Government of the British Virgin Islands

Introduction

At the end of 2003, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 132.5 whereas the previous month (November 2003) the index stood at 132.3. A quarter earlier (September 2003) the index stood at 133.2 and a half-year earlier (June 2003) the index stood at 133.1. Regarding the same period a year earlier (December 2002) stood at 130.5.

Monthly Comparison

On a monthly comparison, none of the subgroups reflected any downward movement except Food, Beverage & Tobacco which increased by 0.33 percent as a result of higher prices of whole chicken, vegetable oils, vegetable juices and tea bags. Clothing & Footwear subgroup on the other hand increased by 0.35 percent due to the higher prices of panty hose and fabric. All the other subgroups namely Housing, Furniture & Household Supplies, Transportation, Services, and Miscellaneous remained unchanged .

Quarter Comparison     

On a quarterly comparison, there was a slight change in the subgroups, with the exception of Housing & Household Supplies and Transportation which remained unchanged. Food, Beverage & Tobacco rose by 0.14 percent while Clothing & Footwear rose by 0.37percent. Services moved up by 0.84 percent and Miscellaneous increased by 0.87.

Half-Yearly Comparison

The half-yearly comparison between June and December 2003 index reflected the following changes in the subgroups. Food, Beverage & Tobacco rose by 0.39 percent, while Services rose by 0.82 percent and Miscellaneous by 0.66 percent. Furniture & Household Supplies dropped by 4.00 percent, while Clothing & Footwear subgroup fell by 0.42 percent. Housing and Transportation remained unchanged.

Annual Comparison

On an annual comparison, the subgroups reflected the following significant changes, Furniture & Household Supplies dropped by 4.69 percent. Clothing & Footwear declined by 1.11 percent and the Miscellaneous subgroup fell by 0.74 percent. On the other hand, the Food, Beverage & Tobacco subgroups indicated an increase of 1.09 percent while the Housing subgroup move up to 0.08 percent. Furthermore, Transportation and the Services subgroups rose to 1.03 percent and 22.32 percent respectively. 

Rate of Inflation

The point-to-point monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annual rate of inflation stood at 0.15,0.23, 0.42 and 1.56 percent respectively.

TABLE 1
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX: MONTHLY, QUARTERLY, HALF AND ANNUAL COMPARISONS
(MARCH 1995=100)

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