Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI decelerated further to rise by 1.83% to 124.88 over February 2008 when the prices were affected by the Lunar New Year and the bad weather. The price indices of Clothing & Footwear; and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages went up by 13.48% and 7.69% respectively year-on-year.

Among the subgroups of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, notable increase was observed in the prices of rice (+36.81%), canned meat (+32.54%), edible oil (+26.92%), fresh fish (+19.19%) and fruit (+15.29%). For the subgroups of Clothing & Footwear, prices of women’s clothing (+16.59%), as well as children & infant clothing (+14.68%) registered marked increase.

Meanwhile, the price indices of Health and Household Goods & Furnishings increased by 4.57% and 3.75% respectively, due to dearer prices of pharmaceutical products, higher charges for medical consultation service, rising prices of cleaning products & apparatus.

On the other hand, the price indices of Transport, Education and Housing & Fuels registered year-on-year decrease of 8.09%, 7.49% and 1.20% respectively, on account of falling gasoline and LP Gas prices, electricity subsidy by the government, as well as the increase of tuition subsidies to students studying in schools not joining the free education network.

The CPI-A and CPI-B for February 2009 were 126.88 and 124.36 respectively, up by 1.61% and 1.88% year-on-year.

The Composite CPI for February 2009 dropped significantly by 1.30% month-to-month, with the price indices of Education and Recreation & Culture going down by 10.13% and 3.92% respectively. However, the price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased by 0.48% due to dearer prices of fruit and fresh fish, as well as higher charges for meals bought away from home. Moreover, the CPI-A and CPI-B decreased by 1.50% and 1.18% respectively month-to-month.

The average Composite CPI for the first two months of 2009 went up by 3.78% year-on-year. For the 12 months ended February 2009, the average Composite CPI rose by 7.72% over the preceding period.

The Composite CPI reflects the impact of price changes on the general population. The CPI-A relates to about 49% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP3,000 to MOP9,999. The CPI-B relates to about 31% of households, which have an average monthly expenditure of MOP10,000 to MOP19,999.