By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Statistics Sierra Leone has released a new Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2021 along with the CPI results for January 2022, showing a percentage rise and decline on the price indices of various goods and services.
The Director of National Accounts and Economic Statistics Division Mwaluma Andrew Bryma Gegbe presented the CPI report which stated that food and non-food beverages increased from 0.80 percent in December 2021 to 1.94 percent in January 2022, noting that the inflation rate increased by 1.14 percentage points. Furniture, household equipment, and household maintenance increased from 1.87 percent in December 2021 to 9.54 percent in January 2022, a 7.67 percentage point increase. Miscellaneous goods and services rose from 0.73 percent in December 2021 to 1.51 percent in January 2022, an inflation rate increase of 2.24 percentage points.
There was a decline for some items such as alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics by 1.21 percent from 0.84 percent in December 2021 to -0.37 percent in January 2022. Clothing and footwear witnessed a decline -5.61 percent in December 2021 to -3.96 percent in January 2022.
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels experienced a drop by 3.03 percentage points, from 4.11 percent in December 2021, to 1.08 percent in January 2022. Education services saw a total decline, erasing 6.36 percent recorded for December 2021, resulting in a 0.00 percent for January 2022. Health at 5.35 percent in December 2021 dropped to 1.29 percent in January 2022.
Transport saw a decline within the period under review as well as communication, recreation, and the hospitality industry.
Gegbe stated Stats SL uses the internationally recognized Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP). ‘’This classification provides the basis for a more detailed analysis of the sources of inflation based on different categories of consumption,’’ he said.
Statistician-General, Professor Osman Sankoh said the future of Stats S/L lies at the centre of the coordination, production, dissemination, and accreditation of official statistics to support evidence-based decision-making processes at both policy and planning levels.
“We have built a credible statistics S/L in policy design, monitoring and evaluation produced and disseminated in a well-coordinated environment by well-trained and motivated staff,’’ he said. He stated that they have also transformed the data collection and dissemination infrastructure from a paper-based system to a modern ICT infrastructure-based system that supports large-scale survey and administrative data collection from MDAs and routine activities for the timely delivery of quality statistics.
Prof. Sankoh noted that they have expanded the range, coverage, and frequency of high-quality statistics and statistical activities to monitor the performance of the economy and the implementation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for better service delivery.
CPI summarizes the changes in the process of consumer goods and services of a fixed basket and is the only source of measuring inflation. It is designed to measure in index form, the change in the average level of prices paid for consumer goods and services by all private households in the country.
CPI is published every month, and it is an accurate, objective, and independent measure of price change of consumer goods and services.
Copyright © Politico Online 07/03/22)
