The price of a number of products has been on the rise since the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020. However, despite the 500% increase in the cost of freight from China, the consumer price index for the 12 months ending June 2021 stood at 2.2% compared to 1.8% for the 12 months ending June 2020.
Among the main contributors for the net increase in CPI from March 2021 to June 2021 were prices of vegetables (+ 0.4%), meat (+ 0.2%), fish (+ 0.1%), powdered milk (+ 0.1%), frozen semi-prepared food (+0.1%).
Prices of cigarettes (+ 0.4%) and gasoline (+ 0.5%) have also been among the main factors that caused the increase in CPI.
The Consumer Price Index, which stood at 108.5 in March 2021, registered a net increase of 2.9 points (or 2.7%) to reach 111.4 in June 2021.
In 2020, between April and July, the Government reintroduced price control on selected products by amending Consumer Protection (Consumer Goods) (Maximum Mark-up) Regulations 2020 on a number of products including basmati rice, butter, cheese, pasta, pulses and hygiene products. Since April 2021, concerned by the sudden rise in prices due to higher costs of freight, Government fixed prices on 7 products widely consumed by the population including canned tomatoes, pilchards, powdered milk and cooking oil.
