Food prices still driving up cost of living in 12 months

Food prices measured by the States went up 11.4% in the year to June – more than any other commodity or service which makes up the island’s inflation figures.

Housing costs increased by 9.9% including mortgage interest payments, and by 6.9% when they were excluded.

Alcohol and catering prices went up by about 8% and leisure goods and services increased by between 9% and 11%.

But the costs of fuel and light decreased by about 2%. That was the only category measured which showed a decline in prices between June 2022 and June 2023.

And motoring costs went up only by about 2% – well below the general rate of inflation of 6.8%.

Whiteway Motors in Les Grands Marais, Vale, was offering the joint-lowest price of unleaded fuel in the island yesterday, according to figures published by the price watch group Guernsey Fuel and Oil Watch.

‘The price we are supplied at has been stable recently,’ said owner Andre Whiteway.

‘Most recently we had a 2.5p drop and we passed that on to our customers.

‘If there’s a drop in price from our supplier, we try to pass that on to the customer because we try to be the cheapest around.’

Mr Whiteway sets his price based on what he pays for a shipment of fuel, which lasts about six weeks, rather than reacting to changes in the price at which oil is traded on the wholesale market.

He said he had just received a shipment of fuel and therefore could certainly hold his price for the next few weeks, but he felt it would be premature for consumers to think that the worst of the price increases were behind them.

‘A customer did mention that the price of oil had gone up again. If that’s the case, we might not have seen the last of the price rises,’ he said.