Macau, China, 22 Jan – The inflation rate in Macau in 2009 was 1.18 percent in 2009, a drop of over 7 percentage points against the 8.61 percent rate posted in 2008, the region’s Statistics and Census Bureau said Thursday.

The figure was achieved due to some variations seen in the prices of Education, Transport and Communications, which fell 10.53 percent, 5.79 percent and 1.74 percent, respectively, with the prices of Alcoholic Drinks and Tobacco, Clothing and Footwear and Food Products and non-Alcoholic Beverages positing rises of 9.8 percent, 9.5 percent and 5.53 percent, respectively.

In December alone, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw a positive variation of 0.78 percent against December 2008 with prices in the categories of Clothing and Footwear, Transport, Miscellaneous Products and Services and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages rising 12.64 percent, 6.89 percent, 4.81 percent and 4.09 percent, respectively.

In their turn, prices of the Education category fell 18.95 percent and those of the Housing and Fuel and Communications categories fell 2.47 percent and 2.01 percent, respectively against December 2008, due to a fall in housing rental price and the price of mobile telephone services.

Against November 2009, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.61 percent. (macauhub)