Rate of inflation continues to ease but prices are still rising

Figures published by the States show that the underlying inflation figure was running at 5.4%.

The figures are based on the price changes in a ‘shopping basket’ of goods and services containing more than 1,700 items.

Among these, the largest increase was in the housing expenditure group, which was up by 11.8%.

‘The mortgage interest payment item increased in price this quarter and the weighted increase was higher than increases in other items in this group,’ the States said.

RPIX, which excludes mortgage payments, was 5.5%, a drop of 3% over the previous year.

Housing costs, combined with an increase in food costs of 6.9%, were responsible for nearly half of all inflation.

The biggest quarterly increase to the end of December was in fares and other travel costs, which went up by 2.4%.

The report noted that groups such as fares and leisure services were affected by seasonality.

Increases in the cost of kerosene saw the fuel and light group rise by 1.4% over the quarter, along with a smaller increase in the cost of smokeless fuel.

The cost of household goods actually decreased by 1% despite a variety of items increasing in price such as some cleaning products, batteries and even sticky tape.

‘These increases were partly countered by average price reductions in other items, including gas cookers and home office furniture,’ said the report.

As of 2022 household cost indices were added to aid better understanding of the difference in rates of inflation between different kinds of households.

Up to the end of December last year the index for social renter and partial ownership was the index with the highest increase at 7.6%. Private rental households saw the lowest overall rise, at 5.1%.