The All Items Retail Prices Index (RPI) is the main measure of inflation in Jersey. It measures the change from quarter to quarter in the price of the goods and services purchased by an average household in Jersey.
The December 2018 report shows:
- during the twelve months to December 2018 the All Items Retail Prices Index (RPI) for Jersey increased by 3.9%
- almost all groups saw prices increase, on average, on an annual basis
- the Housing, Household services, Leisure services and Motoring groups were the largest contributors to the overall annual increase in the RPI
- key drivers in the Housing group were the increased cost of house purchase due to higher mortgage interest payments, following increases in the Bank of England base rate, and rents in the private sector
- the increase in the RPI over the twelve months to September 2018 was 4.3%; hence, the annual rate of inflation fell by 0.4 percentage points (pp) in the latest quarter
- the fall in the annual rate was largely due to lower rates of price increase for Food, Housing and Fuel & Light over the year to December 2018 compared to the year to September 2018
- underlying inflation, as measured by the annual change in RPI(Y), increased by 3.6% over the twelve months to December 2018
- over the twelve months to December 2018:
- RPI(X) increased by 3.7%
- RPI Pensioners increased by 3.4%
- RPI Low Income increased by 3.4%
- the latest annual rates of increase of all consumer price indices were lower than in September 2018
- the rate of inflation in Jersey over the twelve months to December 2018 was almost double that of the comparable measure for the UK