ABS presents inflation figures

After five months the General Statistics Bureau (ABS) published the monthly and yearly inflation figures in its latest publication of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The ABS workers went on strike in April because they wanted a raise. The inflation figures that the ABS published on Wednesday cover July. The yearly inflation for July is 6%. The yearly inflation is calculated by comparing the prices from July 2018 with the ones from July 2017. This means that the prices of goods were 6% higher than those of July 2017. The ABS pointed out that there have been no big difference in the price during the last couple of months. The monthly inflation was 0.2% in April 2018. This means that the prices of goods in April 2018 were compared with those from March 2018. The monthly inflation was 1.3% in July 2018. The prices were reportedly ‘recorded’ from April 2 until April 30 and then again from July 10 until July 31. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them. Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living; the CPI is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation. The CPI consists 12 main groups of goods. There are 316 items in Suriname’s CPI package and the prices of these goods and services are ‘recorded’ in Paramaribo, Wanica, Nickerie (including Wageningen), Coronie, Saramacca and Commewijne.