The government’s statistics office said Friday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.43% in August.
That leaves the annual rate of increase at 2.07%, the highest it has been in 18 months. The statistics office said rising prices for food, gas, and electricity has resulted in an obvious difference in prices between August of this year and last year.
The price of food saw the biggest increase during August. The average price of eating out is at its highest in 67 months.
Meanwhile the Wholesale Price Index fell 0.37% in August, but was still 0.12% higher than August last year. The statistics office says this is because falling prices for electronics, optics, oil and natural gas have offset increases in the price of basic metals and electricity.