Macau’s inflation rate amounted to 3.01 percent last year, up by 1.78 percentage points from the 1.23 percent rate in 2017, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced Tuesday.
Last year’s rate was the highest since 2015, which stood at 4.56 percent. In 2016, Macau’s inflation amounted to 2.37 percent.
Last year recorded higher charges of eating out, higher rentals for residential units, rising parking meter rates and tuition fees, as well as increasing prices of adults’ clothing and gasoline.
Last month’s composite consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.94 percent year-on-year, a slowdown of 0.18 percentage point from the previous month.
The composite CPI aims to reflect the impact of price changes affecting Macau’s households.
According to the DSEC statement, last month’s composite CPI growth was mainly due to the higher cost of eating out, rising rentals for residential units, higher parking meter rates and price increases in adults’ clothing.
Higher prices of winter clothing and rising charges for package tours during the Christmas holidays also contributed to last month’s composite CPI growth.
The average composite CPI for the fourth quarter of last year rose by 3.14 percent year-on-year.
