posted on October 11, 2011 19:44
The high increase in the price of gasoline is the largest contributor to the rise in the BVI’s growing inflation rate, according to the August Consumer Price Index report published by the Development Planning Unit.
The price of gasoline increased by a whopping 32.1% over last year’s price leading to an 8.0% increase in taxi fares and an overall rise in transportation costs of 8.9%.
The cost of housing rose by 5.7% mainly due to an increase in the price of electricity, which increased significantly by 28.8%. An increase in the cost of apartment rental also contributed to the housing increase, but by a much smaller margin of 3.4%.
The cost of food, beverage and tobacco, as a group, also increased by 2.8% with the largest contributor to this rise coming from fresh vegetables, which went up by 10.4%. Clothing and footwear rose slightly by 0.9% and services even less by 0.1%.
The only decline in prices came from furniture and household supplies, which went down by 1.2% and miscellaneous, which decreased by 0.6%.
Combined the price changes led to a 2.9% inflation rate for the territory. BVI’s inflation rate, however, is still lower than worldwide inflation, which stands at 3.1%. The United States, which accounts for most of BVI imports, has an inflation rate of 3.8%, even higher than worldwide.