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Jacqueline Sabal - Statistician
"The Inflation Rate for the month of October 2017 stood at 0.9 percent, meaning that on average prices were 0.9 percent higher than they were in October 2016. If we look at the major categories affecting the inflation rate then we must consider the food and non-alcoholic beverages category which decrease by 0.8 percent. The housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels category which recorded a 0.9 percent increase as well as transport which increase by 7.8 percent."

"When compare to October 2016, the 0.8 percent decrease in the food and non-alcohol beverages category was solely due to a decline in food prices. Certain meat prices fell as well as the cost of eggs, milk, and some fruits and vegetables. The price per pound for ground beef fell 9.7 percent from 6 dollars and 27 cents to 5 and 66 cents. Beef steak fell 6.3 percent from 8 dollars and 14 cents to 7 dollars and 63 cents. The cost of a dozen eggs fell 4.7 percent from 3 dollars and 32 cents to 3 dollars and 16 cents. The cost of a liter of milk fell 12.5 percent from 2 dollars and 69 cents to 2 dollars and 36 cents. The price per pound for lettuce also fell 17.2 percent from 2 dollars and 78 cents to 2 dollars and 30 cents along with tomatoes which fell 15.9 percent from 2 and 78 cents to 2 dollars 34 cents."

"Next in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels categories there was an overall 0.9 percent increase. This was nearly due to a 0.4 percent increase in home rental prices. Now we look at the transport index and what causes the increase in that. Since the start of the year, the start of the transport index has been one of the main contributors to the overall rise in the inflation rate and this was mainly due to fluctuations in the fuel and lubricant category. For the most part, lubricant index look almost identical to the overall transport index which means its impact was pretty large as fuel especially has been rising significantly in 2017 compared to 2016."

In terms of the inflation rate by municipality, Dangriga Town documented the highest with a 2.4% increase in October 2017 while Orange Walk town documented a -0.3% decrease. That means that things are cheaper up North than they are down South. We will have more from the SIB press conference tomorrow - one element that was not covered was the September 2017 Labour Force Survey which gives us the unemployment rate. In a release sent out by SIB it states "due to an unforeseen setback … the findings of the LFS will be published instead on the next SIB press release date on Wednesday, December 27th.