The inflation rate for Seychelles' Consumer Price Index (CPI) year-on-year has dropped significantly to 2.53 percent in December 2022 compared to 7.85 percent at the same time in 2021, according to the latest figures of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS makes the compilation by using a basket of goods and services classified into three main groups - fish, other food and non-food - according to the United Nations Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose (COICOP).

The senior statistician at the NBS, Kirsten Arnephy, told SNA that "inflation is driven mostly by the non-food group which makes up almost 86 percent of the weight of commodities in the CPI basket.

"In this group, housing, water, electricity and gas, furniture and household equipment and transport account for almost 39 percent of the entire basket and 45 percent of the non-food group compared to the other food group which accounts for approximately 13 percent of the weight in the CPI basket," said Arnephy.

According to the NBS analysis of the contribution to the overall year-on-year price change by major product groups "'Fish' contributed 0.11 percent, Other food 0.32 percent and non-food Items 2.10 percent. This shows that movements in the non-food category contributed the most to the 'all items' price change in December 2022 compared to December 2021.

The NBS, which is a semi-autonomous government agency responsible for collecting, compiling, analysing and publishing statistical information, released that data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on January 10.

The rate of inflation measures the rate at which the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services is changing over time. This is usually measured as a ratio of the average index over a 12-month period to the average index of the preceding 12-month period

She said that each category has a specific weight which is derived from the results of the Household Budget Survey (HBS) and this changes with each HBS because the patterns of expenditure and consumption of households change over time.  

The level of expenditure on the item determines the weight as NBS collects about 6,000 price observations monthly across Mahe, the main island, and Praslin and La Digue, the second and third most populated islands of Seychelles.

According to NBS, the year-on-year comparison in the fish index stood at 91.58 in December 2022 compared to 83.92 in December 2021 reflecting a price increase of 9.13 percent.

The other good index stood at 123.90 in December 2022, reflecting a year-on-year price increase of 2.49 percent and the main increases were recorded in oils and fats, bread and cereals, fruits' and fish (frozen, smoked, salted) categories.

Arnephy explained that "as a highly import-dependent country for most of our food and non-food commodities, external shocks have a tremendous impact on the price of commodities on the local market. Other factors that potentially contribute to price fluctuations is the exchange rate of the Seychelles Rupee vis-a-vis other major international currencies that the country trades in, transportation costs, increase in the costs of raw materials imported for use in local production, labour costs."

The decreases in the other food category were in non-alcoholic beverages, meat (fresh, chilled, frozen), food products, and milk, cheese and eggs.

In the non-food category, the index of 130.19 in December 2022 shows that there was a price increase of 2.44 percent compared to December 2021.

The increase was in housing, water, electricity and gas, restaurants and hotels, miscellaneous goods and services and clothing and footwear.

The decrease in that category was recorded in recreation and culture, health, furniture and household equipment, and communication.