Georgetown Consumer Price Index – December 2023 / January 2024

The Georgetown Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the end of January 2024 was 138.86 compared to 139.43 at the end of December 2023, representing a deflation of 0.4 percent.

The Food category, which is the heaviest weighted category in the consumer basket of food and services, was one of the main drivers of the monthly decrease in all items index. This category had an overall decrease of 0.8 percent at the end of January 2024, when compared to the previous month. The Furniture category also declined 0.6 percent during the same period. The decline in prices for Food and Furniture categories were accounted for by decreased prices in Vegetables and Vegetable Products, Condiments & Spices, Oil & Fats (excluding butter), Meat, Fish & Eggs and House Appliances sub-categories by -4.2 percent, -1.7 percent, -1.1 percent, -0.9 percent, and -1.5 percent respectively.

The decline in the food category was offset by other categories within the consumer basket. These were the Medical Care and Health Services, Education, Recreation & Cultural Services, and Miscellaneous Goods & Services categories, which reflected increased indexes of 1.2 percent, and 0.1 percent respectively for the two latter categories.

Over the last 12 months, the CPI increased by 0.9 percent on account of increases in the Medical Care and Health Services (2.5 percent), Food (1.6 percent), Miscellaneous Goods and Services (1.4 percent), Education, Recreation & Cultural Services (0.2 percent), Housing (0.1 percent), and Transport & Communication (0.1 percent) categories. The Furniture category contracted by 0.4 percent during the 12 month period.