Macao’s composite consumer price index (CPI) stood at 104.76 in July, up just 0.06 percent from June, and 0.78 percent year on year, according to figures from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
The data suggests that the territory is largely being spared the high inflation besetting many parts of the world as a result of rising commodity prices and supply chain disruptions.
According to the DSEC’s survey of consumer prices, education, recreation and clothing, all cost more in July than they did a year ago, but transport, fuel and housing were cheaper.
[See more: Civil servants are calling for a pay rise because of ‘inflation’]
Month to month, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages fell, but the cost of eating out increased slightly.
In spite of the relatively flat CPI, civil servants in Macao have been calling for pay rises to meet what they say are the rising costs of living.
In June, the head of the Macau Federation of Civil Service Workers’ Associations, Pang Kung Hou, told local media that inflation was higher than what official figures suggested and claimed it had “already exceeded three percent since Covid-19.”
