BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's consumer price index (CPI) had increased by 0.3 percent in May compared with April this year owing to higher prices of textiles and home appliances, according to the latest statistics released by Brunei's Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) Thursday.
In its monthly CPI report, JPKE said the furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance index increased by 2.3 percent.
JPKE said the recreation and culture index rose by 1.5 percent owing to increased prices of audio-visual equipment. The index for clothing and footwear increased by 2.6 percent on the back of higher garment and clothing prices.
The education index was unchanged from the previous month. The non-food index increased by 0.5 percent while the food and non-alcoholic beverages index decreased by 0.3 percent.
JPKE said compared to May 2015, the CPI for May 2016 has decreased by 0.3 percent mainly due to decreases in indices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 4.2 percent, transport by 1.5 percent and food and non-alcoholic beverages by 0.7 percent.
CPI is a measure of price changes of goods and services paid by the consumer in a specified period. Brunei's list of goods and services in the CPI is based on the average expenditure per household.
