According to the latest figures by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics, people had to pay extra for goods and services in December last year.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2024 increased by 2.8 per cent compared to December 2023, and rose by 0.4 per cent compared to November 2024.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages, and alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics contributed the most to the 2.8 per cent increase in the CPI in December 2024, due to the increase in prices for food, cigarettes, paper cigarettes, and Samoan kava.

The imported goods component of the CPI saw a 1.8 per cent increase compared to the same month last year, driven mainly by higher prices for chicken leg quarters, raw sugar, mutton flaps, and toiletry supplies.

The local goods component increased by 4.0 per cent, reflecting higher prices for taro, fresh fish, and Chinese cabbage. It also went up by 0.4 per cent when compared to November 2024.

In December 2024, food and non-alcoholic beverages were the largest contributors to the 2.8 per cent rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), contributing 3.2 percentage points to the overall increase.

The key drivers of this rise were significant price increases in chicken leg quarters (up 14.0%), raw sugar (up 6.8%), taro (up 14.0%), fresh fish (up 26.6%), mutton flaps (up 18.3%), turkey wings (up 7.7%), Chinese cabbages (up 25.9%), bananas (up 21.6%), tomatoes (up 22.4%), and apples (up 17.1%).

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco were the second largest contributor with a contribution of 0.3 percentage points to the overall increase. This was primarily due to price increases in Pall Mall cigarettes (up 4.0%), paper cigarettes (up 16.7%), and Samoan kava (up 3.6%).

Both miscellaneous and communication contributed 0.1 percentage points each to the CPI rise, mainly driven by higher prices for toiletry supplies (up 16.1%), diapers (up 1.4%), and cell phone calling per minute (up 7.3%).

Furnishings, household equipment and maintenance, education, recreation and culture, restaurants and hotels, and health all contributed less than 0.1 percentage points each to the CPI increase.

The main drivers of these increases were higher prices for single mattresses (up 12.2%), secondary examination fees (up 9.8%), exercise books (up 17.0%), and Amoxicillin 500mg tablets (up 0.9%).

On the other hand, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and clothing and footwear all had negative contributions, with percentage-point changes of -0.8, -0.1 and -0.0 respectively.

These decreases were primarily driven by falling prices for Ie faitaga uniforms (down 3.4%), petrol (down 10.9%), and kerosene (down 18.7%).

The average annual inflation rate for the year ending December 2024 was 2.2%. In contrast, the inflation rate for the twelve months ending December 2023 was 7.9%