HIGHER prices of meat, fish and seafood, milk, cheese and eggs, oils and fats, fruit, vegetables, confectionery, and other food products recorded in June weighed in heavily on the Consumer Price Index and pushed inflation back up to 6.7 per cent during the month.
After April’s 10-year record high of 7.1 per cent, inflation had dipped to 5.8 per cent in May before it picked up again last month.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji said it expected inflation to remain at between 4 to 5 per cent by the end of the year.
Inflation has picked up again from a dip in May, buoyed by higher food prices.
This was noted by the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) in its latest economic review.
“The annual headline inflation rate increased to 6.7per cent in June from 5.8per cent in May,” RBF stated in its July economic review released last week.
“Higher prices were noted in the food & non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics, transport, housing and utilities, and restaurant categories.”
In April, inflation was at 7.1 per cent, a record ten-year high.
More detailed data from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics showed higher food prices were driven by higher prices in meat, fish & sea food, milk, cheese & eggs, oils & fats, fruit, vegetables, confectionery and other food products, which contributed the highest to the change in the June Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The Bureau of Statistics uses two measures of inflation: one compares the average CPI over the past twelve months with the average CPI over the previous twelve months while the other compares the CPI in the current month with the CPI in the comparable month of the previous year.
The average annual rate of inflation for the 12 months to June 2024 was 4.3 percent while the month-on-month inflation rate (June 2024 compared with June 2023) was 6.7 percent.
RBF said it is expecting inflation to moderate from this month and to remain at around four to five per cent by the end of the year.
