Brunei inflation anaemic but flour prices up sharply

Brunei inflation anaemic but flour prices up sharply
Debbie Too
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Wednesday, September 3, 2008


BRUNEI'S consumer price index or CPI showed prices of basic goods and services grew at an anaemic pace of 0.1 per cent in June compared to the previous month.

Based on figures released by the Department of Economic Planning and Development, the inflation rate for Brunei remained significantly lower than other countries in the region partly due to government subsidies on rice and sugar, petrol and diesel and liquefied petroleum gas, which moderated the CPI growth for major group indices such as food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and housing, water, electricity and maintenance.

While prices of most goods in the various major groups remained largely unchanged, there were significant changes for flour, cheese and dried bee hoon. The price of flour increased from May to June by 19.7 per cent, which brings the cost of flour to nearly $40 per 22.5-kilogramme bag.

"The price of flour is still continuing to increase, and our supplier has told us that it is not only happening in Brunei," said a representative from LeApple Bakery. She added that the price of flour per 22.5-kg bag was $18 last year and now the price of bread flour has risen to $39.50 and cake flour to $36.50.

"We increased our bread prices last year already but this year, we have not made any adjustments to (the prices of) our products yet," she said. She added that there has been a monthly increase since the beginning of this year and that the supplier has told her that the increases will still continue to happen.

The prices of shallots and limes have decreased by 8.4 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively, and an economist said that prices of vegetables and seafood depend on supply.

"A decrease in prices of certain vegetables, shallots and limes, means that during the period of May to June, there was either a surplus of goods available or there was enough supply to meet the demand," he said.

Another notable decrease in the CPI was the 0.4 decrease in clothing and footwear.

"The cost of materials for the clothes have been decreasing since Chinese New Year so this price decrease is following that trend, possibly due to cheap labour and material from China," said the economist.

Compared to the same period last year, the CPI in June this year was 2.4 per cent higher.The Brunei Times