The prices of liquid fuels and meats recorded highest increases of 6.9 and 1.1 percent respectively fro November 2016
Bereng Mpaki
THE prices of liquid fuels and meats recorded the highest increases of 6.9 and 1.1 percent respectively for November 2016, according to the latest figures released by the Bureau of Statistics (BOS).
Through its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, the BOS gives updates on Lesotho’s prices developments based on prices collected every month in 12 urban areas and 45 selected rural areas in Lesotho through personal visits. About 15 000 price quotations are collected in 780 outlets for about 200 commodity items.
A CPI measures changes in the prices of consumer goods and services such as transportation, food and medical care, with the results published on the 20th day of the month following the reference month of data collection.
The overall monthly CPI remained static for November at 0.3 percent much like the previous month.
However, there were notable increases in the prices of liquid fuels and meats. Paraffin, pork and chicken were among the specific items whose prices significantly increased during the month.
“The observed increase in monthly price indices was recorded for the following classes with their respective percentages: Meat with 1.1 percent, Garments (0.2 percent), Shoes and other footwear 0.3 percent, Liquid fuels (6.9 percent), Non-durable household goods with 0.4 percent as well as other appliances, articles and products for personal care with (0.4 percent),” reads part of the report.
“However, the increases in monthly price indices were counteracted by a decline of 0.1 percent in the price index of bread and cereals.”
The annual inflation rate also remained static at 5.7 percent, like in the previous month. The annual inflation rate is computed by comparing the CPI level of November 2016 to that of November 2015.
The report also indicates that food (9.9 percent), clothing (4.4 percent), and footwear (3.2 percent) as well as goods and services for routine household maintenance 4.1 percent were contributing factors to the annual increase in prices.
This was in addition to education (4.9 percent) and personal care (3.3 percent).
Services and commodities, which are disaggregated into non-durables, semi-durables and durables indices, are also presented in the report.
The services index is derived by aggregating all the services indices. Non-durables, semi durables and durable indices are calculated by aggregating all the non-durables, semi durables and durables indices respectively.
“The monthly increase was observed with the following percentage: Non-Durables with 0.5 percent, Semi Durables with 0.2 percent, Durables (0.1 percent), while Services showed no percentage change. The annual inflation rates were 7.7, 3.9, 1.9 and 1.3: Non-Durables, Semi Durables, Durables and Services respectively,” adds the report.
