BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's consumer price index (CPI) in February increased by 0.5 percent in January, owing to higher prices of clothing, according to the latest statistics released by Brunei's Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) on Friday.
In its monthly CPI report, JPKE said that both food and non-alcoholic beverages index and non-food index increased by 0.1 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.
The increase in the overall CPI in February was largely contributed by clothing and footwear (13.2 percent); furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance (1.8 percent); followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.1 percent). These were mainly due to higher prices of clothing materials and shoes; furniture and furnishings; as well as meat, fish and seafood.
Indexes that experienced decreases were transport (0.1 percent), health (1.7 percent) and restaurants and hotels (0.1 percent).
JPKE said compared to February 2016, the CPI for February 2017 declined by 0.2 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.
