The year-on-year consumer price index (CPI) for September increased by over 8 per cent compared to the same month of the previous year. This means the consumers are paying over 8 per cent more for the same commodities this year compared to the same month last year. The CPI is a measure of average price changes in the basket of goods and services purchased by households over time.
According to the National Statistics Bureau, the increase is associated with an increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages by 16.69 per cent. This is followed by alcoholic beverages and betel nuts at 12.77 per cent. In the food group, prices of vegetables recorded the highest monthly increase of 7.31 per cent followed by beer with 6.76 per cent over the previous month of August.
Meanwhile, in the non-food group, the prices decreased by 0.30 per cent compared to August this year. The decrease in the price of non-food is mainly due to a decrease in communication and kerosene price.
Compared to December 2012, the purchasing power of ngultrum measured by CPI is Nu 67 in September this year. This means Nu 100 was worth Nu 67 in December 2012. The purchasing power of ngultrum has dropped by 7.43 per cent since September last year.
Tshering Zam
