The Georgetown Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the end of May 2023 was 135.49 compared to 135.41 at the end of April 2023, representing an inflation of 0.1 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 increase in all items, along with the miscellaneous goods & services category. The food category saw an overall increase of 0.1 percent, while miscellaneous goods & services saw an overall increase of 0.4 percent at the end of May 2023, when compared to the previous month.

The rise in prices for food was accounted for by escalated prices in sub-categories condiments and spices (5.6 percent), tobacco and tobacco products (2.5 percent), and alcoholic beverages and intoxicants (1.2 percent) and was offset by prices in the sugar, honey and related products (-1.0 percent), meat, fish and eggs (-0.7 percent), fruit and fruit products (-0.4 percent), non-alcoholic beverages (-0.2 percent), pulses & pulse products (-0.1 percent) subcategories.

Within the miscellaneous goods and services category increased prices were observed in the sub-categories of goods for personal care (0.5 percent) and expenditures in restaurant and café (0.2 percent).

Over the last 12 months, the CPI increased by 3.0 percent on account of increases in the food (6.4 percent), miscellaneous goods and services (2.0 percent), furniture (2.1 percent), footwear and repairs (0.4 percent) and clothing (0.3 percent) categories.