The Central Statistical Office (CSO) yesterday reported that T&T’s inflation rate fell to 1.3 per cent last month, compared to October 2022.
The All-Items Index recorded for October 2023 was 124.1, which was 1.3 per cent higher than the 122.5 that the index recorded one year earlier.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 1.86 per cent, moving from 144.5 in October 2022 to 147.2 in October 2023.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages constitute 17.3 per cent of the All-Items Index, which is only surpassed by costs associated with home owning, which account for 27.5 per cent of the All-Items Index
For the one-year period between October 2022 and October 2023, alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 7.4 per cent. But clothing and footware declined by 4.8 per cent, housing, water, electricity gas and other fuels fell by 1.3 per cent and home ownership was down by 1.8 per cent.
According to the CSO: “The Index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased from 148.2 in September 2023 to 147.2 in October 2023, reflecting a decrease of 0.7 per cent. Contributing significantly to this decrease was the general downward movement in the prices of irish potatoes, fresh whole chicken, onions, eddoes, pumpkin, plantains, chive, dasheen, sweet potatoes and ochroes.
“However, the full impact of these price decreases were offset by the general increases in the prices of table margarine, carrots, melon, green sweet peppers, parboiled rice, fresh carite and grapes, melongene, bodi and brown sugar.”
