The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance releases the CPI for Feb 2025
Year-on-Year Analysis
The Consumer Price index rose 4.0 % for the twelve months ending February 2025. The February 2025 inflation change is the smallest twelve-month increase in the all-items index since December 2023. The all-items less Food and Energy index rose 4.3% over the last twelve months.
Food prices increased 1.3% in February 2025 when compared to February 2024. The index recorded mixed results with five sub category increases and four decreases. The index for Bread and Cereals rose 7.4% over the same period as the subcategories of Rice and Bread rose 14.1% and 12.9%
respectively. The index for Milk, Cheese, and Eggs rose 4.5% driven primarily by an 18.3% increase in the index for Eggs and Egg Based Products.
The index for Meats and Meat Products increased by 2.1% in February and the index for Fruits rose 1.4%.
The index for All Items less Food and Energy rose 4.3% over the last twelve months. The increase is driven primarily by the average price increase in the indexes for Miscellaneous Goods and Services (+15.5%), Restaurants and Hotels (+14.1%), Health (+10.5%) and Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics (+10.8%).
Month-to-Month Price Changes
In February 2025, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined by 0.4 % when compared to January 2025. The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index
fell by 0.5% over the month. The All Items Less Food and Energy declined by 0.4% over the same one-month period.
The Food Index saw a slight decrease of 0.8%. Seven out of the nine major supermarket food groups recorded decreases over the one month.
This decrease was primarily driven by: Oil and Fats (-7.4%), Sugars, Jams Honey, Chocolate and Confectionery (-3.3%), Vegetables (-2.7%), Food Products Not Elsewhere Classified (N.E.C) (-2.3%), and Fruits (-1.7%). In contrast, the Meat and Meat Products and Bread and Cereals indexes increased by 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.
The Non-Alcoholic Beverage Index increased by 2.5%, driven by a 5.7% increase in the index for Fruit and Vegetable Juices.
The index for All Items less Food and Energy had a marginal decline of 0.4% over the month. The decrease was influenced by a decline in the index for Transport Services which declined by 12.4%.
