February Inflation highest in 4 years, DSEC blames calendar

Last month’s inflation reached the highest point of the last four years, a statistics release from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) has shown. According to official statistics, the Composite CPI (Consumer Price Index) for February 2024 grew 1.46% year-on-year. The DSEC said the growth was “partly caused by the relatively high prices during the Lunar New Year (LNY).”

The service noted that while it is common during the season for the prices of goods and services to rise, this year’s LNY happened in February while last year it occurred in January due to the differences between the Lunar and the Gregorian calendars.

Official statistics show that among the various sections of goods and services, the price indices of Recreation & Culture (+11.92%) and Education (+5.05%) showed notable year-on-year growth, on account of rising charges for package tours, more expensive hotel room rates and higher university tuition fees.

Concurrently, increases in clothing prices and charges for outpatient services pushed up the price indices of Clothing & Footwear (+4.09%) and Health (+3.18%).

The price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages also registered a rise beyond the average (+1.73%) with the DSEC noting that this happened due to the higher cost of eating out. The increase was partially offset by the lower prices of pork.

The price indices of Transport (-1.82%) decreased due to lower airfares, while Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (-0.77%) also fell due to lower prices of alcoholic beverages.

Compared month-on-month with January this year, February’s Composite CPI rose 0.54% with the price indices of Recreation & Culture (+6.95%) and Transport (+1.20%) showing the most significant growth.

The price index of Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+0.34%) also increased although not so significantly, while the price indices of Clothing & Footwear and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco dropped, respectively by 1.17% and 0.49%.

In the past year (Mar 2023 to Feb 2024), the price indices of Education (+7.39%), Recreation & Culture (+6.35%), and Clothing & Footwear (+4.63%) climbed most notably, contributing to an average Composite CPI growth of 1.02%.