Date Posted: February 05, 2009.

The Anguilla Consumer Price Index (AXACPI), a measure of the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households, increased by 5.9% between December 2007 and December 2008. This means that residents on Anguilla, on average, paid near six percent more for goods and services than they did one year earlier. The CPI, provided by the Statistics Department of The Government of Anguilla, can be used in employer and employee contract negotiations to adjust wages, in rental agreements and child support agreements, pensions and other contractual price setting arrangements. The increase may have been even higher was it not for a decrease of 1.6% observed in the 4th quarter of 2008, driven primarily by a 19.9% decrease in the fuel costs between September 08 and December 08. 

 
Quarterly Anguilla Consumer Price Index (AXACPI) from Dec. 04 - Dec. 08.

Over the year, the increase in cost of certain food items drove "Food" costs up by 15.1%. White flour for example increased by 49.2% and wheat increased even more by a whopping 69.2%. While protein foods such as Meat, Poultry and Fish increased by 7.1%, 7.9% and 11.7%, Rice saw a much higher increase of 61.5%.

The “Milk & Dairy Products” subcategory on average increased by 15.2%, “dried milk”, one of the items in this category experienced a 39.5% increase. Additionally, “take out” meals, which include foods such as Chicken and Fries, Hamburger and Fries, sandwiches etc. on average experienced a 15.6% increase over the 4th quarter 2007 prices.

Despite the large decrease in the “Fuel” category between the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2008, Fuel overall for the year  measured an annual increase of 10.0%, which was partly due to the increase in the surcharge of electricity by 10.1% over the 4th quarter 2007.

The “Drink & Tobacco” category measured an annual increase in prices of 9.2%, which was in part due to the increase in the cost of beers which increased by 5.8%. The cost of cigarettes increased by 5.9% and rum by 7.8%.
The “Accommodation” category showed an annual increase of 3.8% which was in part due to the increase cost of concrete blocks which increased by 30.8% when compared to the 4th quarter of 2007. The categories “Transportation”, “Medical” and “Education” experienced increases of 1.6%, 1.0% and 0.4% respectively over the year.

Conversely, the category “Other” showed a decrease of 10.6%, which was due to the decreased cost in power tools and other miscellaneous items. “Clothing and Footwear” experienced an annual decrease of 2.5% which was partly due to the decrease in the cost of men’s and women’s clothing & footwear by an average of 10.9% and 12.9% respectively. The other categories that experienced a decrease were “Personal Services” and “Household Goods” by 1.2% and 0.4% over the 4th quarter 2007.

Note: The data contained in this report is taken from the Anguilla Government Statistics Department ANGUILLA’S CONSUMER PRICE INDEX 4th Quarter: October - December 2008