Price for alcohol and tobacco up 35pct from last year

The Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI), which records changes in prices as a measure of inflation, was 106.94 for October 2015, based on information released by the Statistics and Census Service.  This caused year-on-year growth to slow to 4.16 percent. Compared with October 2014, a notable increase of 34.29 percent was observed in the price index of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco. The price indices of Education and Household Goods & Furnishings increased by 8.96 percent and 6.96 percent respectively, while Clothing & Footwear and Communication saw marginal decreases of 1.89 percent and 0.16 percent.
Compared with the previous month, the Composite CPI for October 2015 was up by 0.42 percent. Through a monthly comparison, it can be observed that the price indexes of Transport, Clothing & Footwear and Household Goods & Furnishings rose by 1.72 percent, 1.5 percent and 1.11 percent respectively. The price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages increased by 0.27 percent month-to-month, while that of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco decreased by 3.84 percent.
The average Composite CPI for the first ten months of 2015 is up 4.73 percent when compared to the first ten months of 2014. Furthermore, in the 12 months ending in October 2015, the average Composite CPI increased by 4.91 percent, compared to the same 12 month period last year.