Basic Goods Prices Rise 9.96% Year-on-Year in Malé, Statistics Bureau Reports

Prices of basic goods in Malé rose 9.96 percent in October this year compared with October last year, according to the index published by the Statistics Bureau showing changes in average prices of basic goods (ECPI). Month-on-month, the statistics show prices rose 1.01 percent. The Statistics Bureau's report states that food category prices increased 10.73 percent compared with the same period last year. The biggest change came in one-month goods, whose prices rose 23.97 percent. Prices of milk and milk-containing categories and eggs rose 12.11 percent, while vegetable prices increased 22.16 percent. Fruit prices rose 13.24 percent compared with last year in October, an increase of 3.32 percent compared with last September. Compared with August last year, fruit prices fell, but compared with last July the statistics show an increase of 3.50 percent. Gas and oil prices did not rise compared with September this year, but compared with October last year prices of such categories stand 13.82 percent higher, the report states. Prices fell the most for smoking tobacco and smoking-related items. While the Maldives depends on imports for food, changes in the international market have a very large effect. The supply chain was disrupted by the war that began in the Middle East on February 28, and prices of oil and various other goods began to rise sharply in the Maldives. That situation worsened further because this is a year in which the Maldives must pay a large debt totalling 1.1 billion dollars. For this reason, foreign financial institutions had forecast last year that prices of goods would go up in the Maldives. The latest report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also noted that in the remaining part of this year, inflation will continue to rise further in the Maldives.