.... HITS 16.7%

Headline consumer price inflation continued its upward climb as reported in the recent Statistical Service consumer price index (CPI) report for the month of March. The report, released late last week, indicated that the national index for March 2005 (397.28) recorded an increase of 16.7% over that for March 2004 (340.40) and 2.7% higher than that of February 2005 which was 14.0%.

Further analysis shows that the most pressure came from the food sub-group which hit a high of 344.93, representing a rise of 17.3% over the index of March 2004, 293.98; and compared to the 14.9% rise of February 2005.

According to the CPI report, ?the national combined index (urban and rural) increased by 4.2%? maize, tomatoes, and kenkey with fried fish contributed 7.4%, 6.2% and 3.4% respectively, while the prices of small onions and fresh pepper fell by 0.7% 0.5% respectively.

The non-food group for the month under survey climbed to 450.94, an increase of 16.1%, over the index of March 2004, 388.50; and compared to the rate of change of February 2005 which was 13.1%.