Inflation in Solomon Islands drops in June

A FURTHER 0.2 per cent fall in inflation rate was recorded for Honiara in June 2018.
According to the latest Honiara Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month (June), the drop was from 192.9 in May to 192.5 in June.
CPI is a monthly indicator of the variation in prices for retail goods and other items.
The basket of goods chosen represents the spending behaviour of the population of Honiara and the resulting CPI is used to calculate inflation. In the Solomon Islands, inflation is limited to the current CPI basket of goods and services and thus does not represent all price movements of all goods and services in the economy. It is generally a broad measure of the cost of living in the country.
Government Statistician, Douglas Kimi while releasing the statistics recently said the plunge offsets marginal price rises mainly in Food, Transportation and Communication categories.
“The Food index slightly rose during the month by 0.02 per cent to 178.5. This was mainly driven by price rises in powdered milk (0.9 per cent), second grade tuna (0.6 per cent) and in fresh fruits and vegetables at the Honiara market such as cucumber (25.8 per cent), green beans (16.9 per cent), melon (10.1 per cent), cooking banana (6.7 per cent), cassava (6.4 per cent), bush cabbage (2.9 per cent), and kumara heaps (1.5 per cent). These outweighed price drops in a certain produce such as dry coconuts (-1.8 per cent), tomatoes (-7.0 per cent), Chinese cabbage (-9.0 per cent) and coral fish (-19.2 per cent) resulting in the slight rise of the overall food index,” Mr. Kimi stated.

Other major changes in other sub-index includes;

• • Drinks and Tobacco increased 0.4 per cent driven by a rise of 2.5 per cent in the price of betel nut outweighing a fall -1.0 per cent in tobacco prices.
• • Housing and Utilities dropped 1.9 per cent on account of a drop -8.0 per cent in electricity charges.
• • Household Operations went up 0.4 per cent due to an increase of 0.9 per cent in price of household supplies and services, in particular, washing powder 4.8 per cent.
• • Transport and Communication went up 1.3 per cent resulting from increases in diesel and petrol prices by 7.9 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.
• • Miscellaneous Items rose 0.6 per cent on account of a 3.0 per cent rise in the price of personal care products.

 “The overall annual headline inflation rate for the month of June 2018 calculated on a 3 months moving average basis was 2.4 per cent, down by 0.4 percentage points from 2.8 per cent the previous month. The corresponding inflation rates for imported and other items were 0.1 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.
“The main underlying rates of inflation based on a 3 months moving average for the month of June 2018 were observed between -0.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent while the headline inflation rate was at 2.4 per cent,” the Government Statistician, Mr. Kimi said.

CAPTION 1: Chart shows the Honiara inflation rates from April 2015-June 2018.

CAPTION 2: Graph shows the Honiara annual headline and underlying rates from April 2015-June 2018. 

Source: SINSO Media