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2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
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36
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
Prices, Wages and Employment
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by
1.5 per cent in 2018, relative to an increase
of 2.4 per cent in 2017.
The main reason for
this disinflation was the normalization of the
housing sub-index after the methodological
review, which took place in 2017.
Accordingly, the housing sub-index, the
highest weighted, rose by 2.2 per cent
compared with 7.4 per cent in 2017.
Increases were also recorded in the sub-
indices of food (3.9 per cent); transport and
communications (0.2 per cent); medical care
and expenses (1.4 per cent), household
furnishing and supplies (1.4 per cent) and
clothing and footwear (0.9 per cent). The rise
in the food sub-index, the second highest
weighted, mainly reflected higher prices for
meats, fruits, vegetables and bakery and
cereal products. The increment in the
housing index reflected higher costs related to
maintenance and repairs and other related
expenses. Meanwhile, there were declines in
the sub-indices of alcoholic beverages and
tobacco (1.5 per cent) and personal services
(4.2 per cent).
During the year, public sector employees
received a 5.0 per cent salary increase, along
with back-pay and retroactive payments,
preliminarily estimated to cost $53.0m. In the
absence of labour force statistics, provisional
data from the Antigua and Barbuda Social
Security Board for 2018 indicated that the
number of private sector registered
contributors increased to 31,391 in 2018 from
25,694 in 2017. This mainly reflected higher
employee counts in the construction sector
(10.0 per cent), transportation (3.1 per cent),
accommodation (1.5 per cent), and wholesale
and education both at 1.1 per cent. In the
public sector the number of general public
administration services employees increased
by 2.7 per cent to 9,797. Meanwhile, the
number of registered self-employed persons
contracted by 122 to 1,887.