Annual rise in electricity costs of 31.2% and water supply is up 15.9%

The Economics and Statistics Office in The Cayman Islands has reported that consumer prices increased by 6.4 per cent on average in the third quarter of 2021, compared to the same period a year ago.

The uptick in prices comes as governments around the world are concerned about surges in inflation as their economies rebound from pandemic-induced shocks. Inflation in Cayman is led by an annual rise in electricity costs of 31.2 per cent and water supply is up 15.9 per cent.

The other main drivers of consumer prices were higher rents (two per cent) and property-related costs (8.6 per cent). Many goods are subject to international supply chain and shipping bottlenecks, which pushed up prices both in 2021 and in 2020.

TRANSPORT COSTS UP

The cost of building materials increased by 13 per cent. Consumers are generally paying more for education (4.7 per cent) and healthcare. Although the health component in the Consumer Price Index increased by only 2.5 per cent, important categories such as the cost of pharmaceuticals (7.2 per cent) and health insurance (4.5 per cent) have been rising for the past two years.

Transport costs are up 4.2 per cent in the wake of rising oil prices globally, which increased the cost of fuel locally by 20.6 per cent. Food prices in the third quarter were up 3.3 per cent compared to one year ago, after rising by 5.5 per cent over the previous 12 months.

However, it is worthy of note that in the US, the source market for more than 80 per cent of imported goods to Cayman, annual inflation rose to 6.8 per cent in November.