According to the National Statistics Bureau’s report, the prices of goods and services increased by two per cent between August last year and August this year. This is the lowest monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) or year-on-year inflation since December 2012.
Year-on-year inflation measures the price change in a particular month of the year as compared to the same month of the previous year.
The inflation rate sloped down since March this year. From 3.23 per cent in March, it fell to two per cent in August.
However, lower inflation rate does not mean that prices of goods and services are falling. It indicates the rate at which prices increase, and thus, lower inflation rate means a slower pace of price rise.
Both food and non-food items recorded a slightly higher increase compared to July.
The food prices increased by 3.49 per cent and non-food prices by 1.02 per cent. Similarly, prices of imported goods increased by 2.55 per cent, while local goods’ prices increased by 1.41 per cent.
The country experienced an average inflation of 2.57 per cent until August this year.Having experienced an annual inflation of almost five per cent in 2017, the price of goods and services in August this year is two per cent more expensive than in August 2017.
Nu 100 in August 2018 was worth only Nu 74 at December 2012 prices. The purchasing power of Ngultrum has decreased by 1.96 per cent in the past 12 months due to price rise in the economy.
The CPI for September is yet to be published.
