This release gives information on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the four states – Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap. Appendix 1 contains tables with detailed data for FSM and the four states.
Annual Inflation
The annual inflation in the 4th quarter of 2023 was 4.7% for All Groups. In the same quarter of the previous year (2022) the rate was 6.5%, indicating a decrease of 1.8 percentage points (Figure 1).
The largest contributions to the annual inflation for 4th quarter 2023 came from the Food and non-alcoholic beverage division, which increased in prices by 9.2%.(Figure 3).
Annual inflation differs by state .The highest inflation rate that was recorded in this quarter came from Kosrae at 6.6%, followed by Chuuk at 6.0%, Yap at 4.2% and Pohnpei at 3.9%.
The high inflation rate in Kosrae appears to be caused by the increasing prices for the Transport division, which was recorded at 21.4%. Whereas, in Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap the inflation rates were driven by the increasing prices in the Food and non-alcoholic division, which recorded at 10.4%, 14.8%, and at 10.2%, respectively.