The Consumers Price Index (CPI) is an indicator or measure of prices changes. It is a fixed weighted average of price relatives and is computed using the Laspeyres price index formula. The current weighting pattern is based on the 2005 Household Expenditure Survey (HES), which was carried out in  2005/06. The HES information was used to select the ‘basket’, which is the commonly used term for the goods and services prices for the purpose of compiling the CPI.

KEY FACTS

Quarterly change

In the June 2024 quarter compared to the March 2024 quarter, the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.2 percent and the Underlying CPI by 1.04 percent.

• Clothing and footwear goods and services rose by 2.6 percent
  • Shoe’s for women and children increased by 30.2 percent
  • Garments for men and boys increased by 1.8 percent
  • Garments for women and girls increased by 0.7 percent
• Miscellaneous goods and services increased by 2.0 percent
  • Dress wear accessories increased by 10.1 percent
  • Articles of personal hygiene increased by 7.8 percent
  • Beauty products increased by 4.0 percent
  • Other goods and services increased by 3.1 percent
• Alcoholic beverages and Tobacco increased by 0.5 percent
  • Wine up by 1.4 percent
  • Beer up by 1.1 percent
  • Spirits up by 0.3%
• Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance group, Communications group and Food and beverages group increased by 0.4 percent
  • Telecommunication equipment up by 8.2 percent
  • Major tools and equipment 5.4 percent
  • Non-durable household goods by 3.9 percent
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels increased by 0.3 percent
• All these increases were offset by decreases in the Recreation and Culture groups (fell by 0.1%)
  
  
  • Information processing equipment down by 3.0 percent
• Restaurants & Hotels services (fell by 0.3%)
  
  
  • Takeaway foods 0.4 percent decrease
• Transport group (fell by 1.3%)
  • Fuels decreased by 7.2 percent
  • Purchase of motor vehicles by 3.9 percent

Annual change

From the June 2023, quarter compared to the June 2024 quarter, the CPI increased by 2.8 percent with the Underlying CPI of 2.7 percent.

• Food group prices rose by 3.1%, influenced by:
  • Mineral water, soft drinks, and juices: 11.82%
  • Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionery: 10.8%
  • Vegetables: 7.0%
  • Coffee, tea, and cocoa: 6.5%
  • Oils and fats: 6.3%
  • Fruits: 5.9%
  • Other food products: 4.7%
  • Milk, cheese, and eggs: 3.6%
• Transport group prices increased by 2.6%, while alcohol and tobacco group rose by 2.5%.

More on Consumers Price Index…

More information on Consumer Price Index (CPI)

The Consumer Price Index covers price changes of the basket of goods and services consumed by all households on Rarotonga (the main island).

The base year is 2019. Prices are collected for 199 items and from selected outlets around Rarotonga. Individual prices are combined using weights from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) conducted in 2015/2016. The HIES information was used to select the basket of goods and services.

The inclusion of an underlying measure is a recent improvement and it is published at the same time as the CPI. The underlying measure excludes items of a highly volatile nature, items that are subject to policy changes.

It excludes some items fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, electricity rates, purchases of new and used motor vehicles, petrol and diesel, international airfares and domestic airfares.

The CPI is calculated as chain-linked Jevons indices (change in the geometric average price). At the higher level, indices will be calculated with standard Laspeyres-type aggregation.