For the first quarter of 2022 the Retail Price Index (RPI) has been measured at 109.9 (Chart 1). This is an increase of 1.4% from three months ago. It is also an increase of 3.3% from a year ago, when the RPI was 106.3. This means that the annual inflation rate is 3.3%, comparing prices in the first quarter of 2022 to the same time period in 2021. This is the highest inflation has been since the beginning of 2019, pre COVID-19 pandemic.

The index uses 203 representative items to measure price changes in nine different categories of household spending; over the past year, 77 items increased in price, 42 items decreased in price, and the price of 84 items remained unchanged. Notable changes over the past year include price increases in representative items within the Housing category, including increases in some building materials, and changes to the Government Landlord Housing rent scheme adopted from April 2021. The Food category also saw a notable increase; on average Food prices have increased by 3.4% since the same period last year, the highest annual increase since quarter 3 2019. The full Statistical Bulletin and a detailed data file can be found on the St Helena Government website here: https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/st-helena/statistics/the-economy.

Source: St Helena Government