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Inflation up by 1.8pct after GST
Published:  May 22, 2015 1:00 PM
Updated: 5:56 AM

The country's inflation increased by 1.8 percent in April following the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

According to the Department of Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is used to measure inflation, increased from 109.9 to 111.9, compared to the same month last year.

This was compared to an inflation rate of only 0.9 percent in March.

It said driving the increase in April were alcoholic beverages and tobacco which saw an increase of 13 percent followed by healthcare at five percent, restaurants and hotels at 4.3 percent and food & non-alcoholic beverages at 3.1 percent.

"These four groups of goods and services contributed 79.3 per cent of the increase of CPI," said the department.

Increase mitigated by transportation

However, the increase was mitigated by transportation which index decreased by 4.8 percent.

Furthermore, increasing at a slower rate were footwear at 0.7 percent and recreational services and culture at 1.5 percent.

In terms of food stuff, among the items which saw notable increase for April were cucumber (+21.9 percent), choy sum (+11.8 percent), spinach (+5.0 percent), canned sardine (+3.5 per cent), sweetened biscuits (+3.1 per cent), malt drinks (+3.1 per cent), infant powdered milk (+1.7 percent), apples (+1.0 per cent) and chicken (+0.5 per cent).

However, food stuff which saw a decrease in index were tomatoes (-25.3 percent), hen’s egg (-12.4 percent), watermelon (-6.0 percent), long beans (-4.3 percent), round scad fish (-3.2 percent), carrots (-2.5 percent), prawns (-2.2 percent), Indian Mackerel (-1.6 percent) and round cabbage (-1.6 percent).

The CPI increase for April was 0.9 percent when compared to preceding month.

The hike was also at 0.9 percent for the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year.

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