CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

May 2021

ANNUAL INFLATION TRENDING UP YEAR-TO-YEAR ANALYSIS

Consumers paid 1.4 per cent more in May 2021 than The Transport & Foreign Travel sector was the largest
they did a year ago for the basket of goods and contributor to the twelve-month increase in the CPI
services included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). (+6.4 per cent). The average cost of airfares increased
This level of inflation rose 0.5 percentage points 27.2 per cent.
from the April 2021 annual inflation rate of 0.9 per
cent. The Education, Recreation, Entertainment & Reading
sector and the Health & Personal Care sector also
Between April 2021 and May 2021 the average cost impacted strongly on the annual rate of inflation, as
of goods and services in the CPI increased 0.3 per price shifts in these sectors measured 1.6 per cent and
cent. The all-items index rose from 107.0 to 107.3 in 2.0 per cent, respectively.
May 2021. This means that the basket of goods and
services that cost $100.00 in April 2015 now costs
$107.30.

Annual
Inflation
Rate
+1.4%
The compilation of SUMMARY STATISTICS
the CPI involves the Monthly Quarterly
processing of several Annual Annual
Period Index per cent Period Index per cent
thousand price Change Change
2020 2019
quotations. The May 105.8 +0.4 Q1 105.3 +1.2
Department of June 105.7 +0.0 Q2 105.7 +0.7
Jul 105.2 -1.4 Q3 106.4 +1.1
Statistics wishes to Aug 105.8 -0.7 Q4 105.7 +0.7
acknowledge the Sept 105.4 -0.7
Oct 105.7 -0.2 2020
cooperation of the Nov 105.8 -0.1 Q1 106.1 +0.8
business community Dec 105.7 +0.3 Q2 105.8 +0.1
Q3 105.5 -0.8
in supplying the 2021 Q4 105.7 +0.0
Jan 106.0 -0.3
required price data.
Feb 106.3 +0.2
Mar 106.7 +0.8 2021
Apr 107.0 +0.9 Q1 106.3 +0.2
May 107.3 +1.4

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 BER M U DA CONS U M ER P R ICE INDEX

MONTH-TO-MONTH ANALYSIS
Fuel & Power
Transport & Foreign Travel
The Fuel & Power sector rose 0.2 per cent. The
The Transport & Foreign Travel sector moved up 3.7
average cost of electricity increased 0.2 per cent.
per cent over the previous month, reflecting increases
in the average cost of airfares (+12.4 per cent) and
overseas hotel accommodations (+7.1 per cent). Health & Personal Care
The Health & Personal Care sector was static for the
month.

Clothing & Footwear

No price movement were reported in the Clothing &
Footwear sector for the month.

Tobacco & Liquor

The Tobacco & Liquor sector fell 0.1 per cent in
response to the decline in the average cost of wines (-
0.5 per cent) and beer (-0.2 per cent).

Household Goods, Services & Supplies Food

The Household Goods, Services & Supplies sector On average, food prices dipped 0.1 per cent in May.
was up 0.3 per cent for the month. On average, Among the main items contributing to the decrease
consumers paid 37.2 per cent more for air were sweet biscuits (-9.9 per cent), bagged oranges (-
conditioners. 3.5 per cent) and cantaloupes (-3.2 per cent).

Rent
Education, Recreation, Entertainment & The Rent sector was down 0.7 per cent as the average
Reading cost of properties not subject to rent control slipped
The Education, Recreation, Entertainment & Reading 1.6 per cent.
sector advanced 0.1 per cent in May. The average cost
of stereo systems and televisions rose 8.4 per cent and
1.5 per cent, respectively.

COMPUTING PRICE INCREASES

The Department of Statistics receives calls daily requesting the rate of inflation over specific periods of time. The
following calculations are provided to guide users as to how to compute rates of price increases. The monthly
index numbers can be obtained from our website: https://www.gov.bm/department/statistics.

A) Month-to-Month Price Change B) Year-to-Year Price Change C) Particular Period Price Change
The price change between January and The price change between March 2020 The price change between February
February 2020 is calculated as follows: and March 2019 is calculated as follows: 2020 and March 2018 is calculated as
follows:
Jan 20 index - Feb 20 index
  100 
Mar 20 index - Mar 19 index
 100 Feb 20 index - Mar 18 index
Feb 20 index   100
Mar 19 index Mar 18 index

106.3  106.1 105.9  105.6

  100   100 106.1  104.3
106.1   100
105.6 104.3

 0.2%  0.3%  1.7%

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 BER M U DA CONS U M ER P R ICE INDEX

APRIL 2015 = 100

Household Education,
Clothing Tobacco Fuel Goods, Transport Recreation, Health &
& & & Services & & Foreign Entertain. Personal
All Items Food Rent Footw ear Liquor Pow er Supplies Travel & Reading Care

2013
1000 115 267 25 31 39 116 130 147 130
WEIGHT

ANNUAL AVERAGE ( per cent)

2016 +1.5 +1.9 +1.0 +0.4 +5.1 -3.3 +1.6 -2.2 +3.3 +4.5
2017 +1.9 +2.2 +0.1 +1.5 +7.8 +7.8 +0.5 +3.6 +2.0 +1.3
2018 +1.4 +2.1 +0.2 +1.5 +4.3 +5.8 -0.2 +0.3 +2.1 +3.1
2019 +1.0 +2.7 +0.9 +1.9 +3.8 +1.1 Nil -3.0 +0.4 +3.4
2020 +0.0 +4.5 -1.8 +0.9 +2.3 -1.8 +0.3 -4.6 +1.1 +2.8

MONTHLY ( per cent)

2019
Mar +0.4 -0.1 +0.9 Nil +0.4 Nil Nil +2.1 -0.4 -0.1
Apr +0.4 -0.2 -0.1 Nil +1.0 Nil Nil +0.4 +0.1 +2.3
May -0.6 +0.3 -2.0 Nil +0.8 +1.0 -0.2 -1.6 +0.1 Nil
Jun +0.3 +1.0 -0.4 Nil +1.1 +0.8 Nil +0.7 -0.2 +1.4
Jul +0.9 +0.4 +2.1 +0.2 -0.6 Nil Nil +2.7 +0.2 +0.1
Aug -0.2 +0.4
-0.1 +0.2 Nil +0.2 Nil +0.1 -1.7 -0.3 Nil
Sept -0.4 +0.2 -0.2 Nil +1.1 Nil Nil -3.0 +0.4 Nil
Oct -0.2 -0.1 -0.9 +0.5 -0.3 -4.2 +0.1 +0.8 +0.1 +0.4
Nov Nil +0.5 -0.2 Nil -0.7 -2.7 Nil +0.9 Nil Nil
Dec -0.5 -0.1 Nil Nil +0.2 -1.5 -0.4 -2.8 Nil Nil

2020
Jan +0.9 +0.8 +0.9 Nil -0.4 Nil +0.3 +2.2 +0.1 Nil
Feb -0.2 Nil -0.5 Nil +0.8 +6.4Nil +0.1 -0.7 Nil Nil
Mar -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 Nil +0.6 Nil Nil -0.6 -0.1 Nil
Apr +0.1 +0.8 -0.3 +0.5 +0.8 Nil +0.1 -1.7 +0.1 +1.2
May -0.2 +0.7 -0.9 Nil -0.5 Nil Nil +0.1 Nil Nil
Jun -0.1 +0.2 -0.5 Nil +0.1 Nil Nil -0.4 +0.1 Nil
Jul -0.5 +0.1 -0.4 Nil -0.2 -3.4 +0.1 -1.9 Nil Nil
Aug +0.6 +0.5 +0.3 Nil +0.3 Nil +0.1 +0.2 +1.7 +0.8
Sept -0.4 +0.3 -1.3 Nil +0.9 Nil +0.1 -1.3 +0.1 Nil
Oct +0.3 +0.1 +1.2 +0.2 -0.6 Nil +0.3 +0.1 +0.1 Nil
Nov +0.1 -0.2 -0.2 Nil +0.1 Nil +0.2 +1.5 -0.2 Nil
Dec -0.1 -0.3 +0.5 Nil -0.6 Nil +0.7 -2.2 -0.1 Nil

2021
Jan +0.3 0.1 +0.5 +0.5 +0.3 +1.0 Nil +1.5 -0.1 Nil
Feb +0.3 +0.3 Nil Nil -0.8 +6.4Nil Nil +2.2 +0.1
+0.2 Nil
Mar +0.4 +0.3 +0.2 Nil Nil Nil Nil +2.2 Nil Nil
Apr +0.3 Nil Nil -0.6 +0.1 +1.5 +0.3 +0.7 Nil +1.1
May +0.3 -0.1 -0.7 Nil -0.1 +0.2 +0.3 +3.7 +0.1 Nil

May ‘21 107.3 113.8 100.0 106.8 124.8 109.8 105.1 100.8 110.5 116.6
99.6

May ‘21 +1.4 +0.9 -0.5 +0.1 -0.5 -0.8 +2.0 +6.4 +1.6 +2.0
May ‘20

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 BER M U DA CONS U M ER P R ICE INDEX

WHAT IS THE CONSUMER PRICE WEIGHTED AVERAGE

INDEX? A mathematical formula that takes into account the
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a statistical relative importance of an item’s price change
tool used for measuring changes in the general compared to the overall change in the sector or CPI.
level of prices of consumer goods and services Inflation
purchased by private households. Inflation is the process of rising prices, resulting in
diminishing purchasing power of a given sum of
The index measures price movements of a given
money.
quality and quantity of goods and services. The mix
of these consumer goods and services comprising the Cost of Living Index
index, are figuratively thought of as a “shopping Many individuals refer to the CPI as a cost-of-living
basket.” In constructing this “shopping basket”, the index. The CPI is an index of pure price change only.
selected goods and services are organized first by A cost-of-living index reflects the changes in buying
commodity type. They are then divided into sub- or consumption patterns that consumers would
components and assigned to a major expenditure ordinarily make to adjust to any change in the price
group. The Bermuda CPI is structured into nine of a good or service.
expenditure groups or sectors:
 Food
 Rent
 Clothing & Footwear
A COMPARISON OF RATES OF INFLATION (%)
 Tobacco & Liquor
Selected Countries & Bermuda
 Fuel & Power
 Transport & Foreign Travel 2017 2018 2019 2020 May 21

 Household Goods, Services & Supplies

Bermuda +1.9 +1.4 +1.0 +0.0 +1.4
 Education, Recreation, Entertainment & 1 +2.1 +2.4 +1.8 +1.2 +5.0
United States
Reading
Canada 2 +1.6 +2.3 +1.9 +0.7 +3.6
 Health & Personal Care United Kingdom 3
+3.6 +3.3 +2.6 +1.5 +3.3

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS Sources:

1. US Bureau of Labour Statistics
Base Period 2. Statistics Canada
3. UK Office of National Statistics
The time period which is used as a reference point for
measuring the price change of goods and services.
The base period for the Bermuda CPI is April 2015. July 2021
Price Index Number
A single figure that shows how a set of prices has Department of Statistics
changed over a specified period of time. An index Cedar Park Centre,
number on its own means nothing. It must be 48 Cedar Avenue, Hamilton HM 11
compared with an index number from another period
to have meaning. For example, a comparison of the P.O. Box HM 3015
index number 97.2 for January 2014 with 100.4 for Hamilton HM MX, Bermuda
January 2016, reveals that prices have increased by
3.3 percent. Tel: (441) 297-7761, Fax: (441) 295-8390
Website: https://www.gov.bm/department/statistics
Laspeyres Equation
The CPI is computed using this statistical equation.
@BermudaStats
This formula calculates the total amount of money a
household needs today to purchase the same basket
of goods and services that it bought in the base
period, April 2015.
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