Housing, cars, food, holidays, school… Islanders hit by higher prices across the board

Friday 19 January 2018

Islanders have been hit by higher school fees, postal charges, telephone bills and domestic service prices, with the cost of household services shooting up by as much as 8% in the last year.

It was the biggest price rise recorded in the most recent Retail Prices Index, which showed that costs were up by 3.6% across the board in the year to December 2017.

Increases in petrol and diesel prices – up by 8p compared to the previous year –  helped push up the cost of motoring on the whole by 4.8%. Motor insurance and the purchase and servicing of vehicles also saw rises. 

Leisure services – a group including foreign holidays, entertainment and recreational activities –  came under the third highest rise (4.6%). Leisure goods, on the other hand – toys, sports equipment, books, CDs and DVDs – went down by 0.9%. 

It’s now more expensive to do a weekly food shop, with prices increasing by 3.9%. This mostly hit bread, cereals, biscuits, cakes, fish, cheese, milk and other dairy products, while pork, bacon and fresh fruit prices went down. This annual increase has been the highest in nearly six years, despite decreases in 2015 and 2016.

Islanders were found to shell out 3.2% more on housing, including rents, dwelling insurance and water charges. Rises in the Island-wide and Parish rates also contributed, but the main drivers were mortgage interest payments due to the Bank of England’s base rate increase being passed on by some lenders.

We have just released the December RPI. The full report is available here:https://t.co/2ENsdrWWpy

— Jersey Stats Unit (@JsyStats) January 19, 2018

Clothing and footwear, however, did not follow the price rise trend – they came down by 0.6%. This decrease was mostly down to a falling price in footwear, the Statistics Unit, who compiled the figures, noted.

Higher prices over the past year have saw the annual rate of inflation increase by 0.5% in the last quarter, primarily driven by housing and food increases over the 12 months to September 2017.

By December 2017, headline inflation (the annual change in the Retail Prices Index) and underlying inflation were at their highest for nearly six years since March 2012.