Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI (104.66) for September 2010 increased by 3.83% year-on-year, attributable to the price increase in Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Miscellaneous Goods & Services and Clothing & Footwear. Analyzed by section of goods and services, Clothing & Footwear (+8.40%); Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+6.82%); Health (+5.78%); Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+5.09%); Recreation & Culture (+4.68%) and Transport (+4.56%) recorded notable increase on account of dearer prices of men’s clothing, women’s shoes, gold jewellery, fresh seafood, vegetables, gasoline and airfares; as well as rising charges for outbound package tours, out-patient medical services and meals bought away from home. As for other sections, price index of Education rose by 1.29% as the increment of tuition fees of the schools not joining the free education network was higher than that of the Government subsidies. On the other hand, reduced charges for mobile phone services caused the price index of Communication to fall by 3.60% year-on-year. The CPI-A (104.25) and CPI-B (104.78) for September 2010 increased by 3.52% and 3.97% year-on-year respectively. The Composite CPI for September 2010 increased by 0.27% month-to-month, with the price indices of Education; and Miscellaneous Goods & Services rising by 1.22% and 1.01% respectively on account of higher tuition fees in the new academic year and dearer prices of gold jewellery. However, price index of Recreation & Culture fell by 2.07% due to lower charges for outbound package tours after the Summer Holidays. The Composite CPI for the third quarter of 2010 increased by 3.11% over the same quarter of 2009, with marked increase in the price indices of Clothing & Footwear (+7.07%), Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+6.40%), Recreation & Culture (+5.63%) and Heath (+5.49%). The average Composite CPI for the first nine months of 2010 increased by 2.43% year-on-year. For the 12 months ended September 2010, the average Composite CPI rose by 1.78% from the preceding period. The 2008/2009-based Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 50% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP6,000 to MOP18,999. The CPI-B relates to about 30% of the households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP19,000 to MOP34,999.
