The Retail Price Index stands at 3.8 per cent for the year up to September after a fall of 0.4 per cent.
But the States target of achieving an RPI(X) – the retail price index figure without the cost of house purchase – of 2.5 per cent is still a long way off, with the information released today showing a figure of 4.4 per cent.Policy and Resources Committee vice-president Senator Terry Le Sueur said the general trend was a downward drift.
He said: ‘I think we have to be realistic, we need to aim for a downward trend whether we hit that target sooner or later is going to be a matter over which we have some influence.’The finance industry has seen interest rates and the stock market come down, which has had an effect, feeding through into the economy generally and may mean a certain reduction in spending and tightening on prices.’The figures were released by the Statistics Unit of the Policy and Resources Department this morning, and included a breakdown of the factors that had led to the fall in inflation.
Some of the major factors were:Fares and other travel costs up 4.5 per centClothing and footwear up 3 per centHousehold goods down 0.9 per centPersonal goods and services down 0.6 per cent
