Statistics Jersey have today published the March 2021 Retail Prices Index report.
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 March 2021 report shows:
- during the twelve months to March 2021 the All Items Retail Prices Index (RPI) for Jersey increased by 0.8% to stand at 183.6 (June 2000 = 100)
- the increase in the RPI over the twelve months to December 2020 was 0.9%; hence the annual rate of inflation decreased by 0.1 percentage points (pp) since latest quarter
- the annual rate of inflation was slightly less than December 2020 due to small downward contributions from several groups, notably:
- prices in the Food and Alcoholic drinks groups increased over the twelve months to March 2021 by less than they increased over the twelve months to December 2020
- the Housing group saw an overall slight decrease in prices over the twelve months to March 2021, whereas there was a slight increase over the twelve months to December 2020
- some groups gave small upward contributions to the change in rate of annual inflation, including:
- Fuel & light saw prices decrease over the twelve months to December 2020 and increase over the twelve months to March 2021
- Personal goods & services saw prices increase by more over the twelve months to March 2021 than the same period of time to December 2020
- underlying inflation, as measured by the annual change in RPI(Y), increased by 1.1% over the twelve months to March 2021
- the rate of underlying inflation, RPI(Y), increased by 0.2 pp since December 2020 (up from 0.9%)
- over the twelve months to March 2021:
- RPI(X) increased by 1.1%
- RPI Pensioners increased by 1.2%
- RPI Low Income increased by 1.4%
- With respect to December 2020, the annual rate of increase over the twelve months to March 2021 was lower for RPI, RPI(X) and RPI Low Income, but slightly higher for RPI(Y) and RPI Pensioners
- the rate of inflation in Jersey over the twelve months to March 2021, as measured by the RPI, was 0.2 pp lower than the broadly comparable headline rate of inflation for the UK