COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 128, 23 February 1939, Page 8

COST OF LIVING

Recent Movements In Prices

INCREASE IN DECEMBER

Special interest attaches to the figures illustratitig recent movements in prices which are given In the latest Abtract of Statistics. The retail-prices index (base: 192630=1000) for the three food, groups rose 42 points during December, the index being 1027, as compared with 955 in November, it states. While the index for the meat group remained stationary (at 1093) Ihe groceries and dairy-produce indexes rose 90 and 47 points respectively, potatoes and butter exercising the i>rcdomiuiitiug influence. When the December indexes for the three food groups and for fuel and light are combined with the November indexes for the remaining groups a'n all-groups index of 967 is obtained, an increase of 16 points during the month and of 54 per cent, as compared with the 1914 level. The annual all-groups index for the year 1938 (950) is 27 points, or 2.9 per cent., higher than the index for the year 1937. The wholesale-prices index (base: 1909-13=1000) records an increase of 29 points (from 1518 in November to 1547 in December). Little movement took place in the index for imported goods, but the seasonal increase in the price of potatoes, and the general advance in the price of butter, caused an increase of 57 points (from 1598 to 1655) in the index for locally-produced commodities. The annual wholesale prices allgroups index for 1938 (1514) is ' 14 points in excess of the index for 1937. Imported commodities were largely responsible for the increase, the index for this group advancing from 1402 in 1937 to 1425 in 1938. The group covering locally-produced commodities increased by 7 points during the year (from 1581 in 1937, to 1588 in 1938). The export-p: ices index (base: 190913=1000) fell 32 points (from 1377 in November to 1345 in December) the principal movements having taken place in the following groups:—lncreases: Wool, 36 points; “other” pastoral produce, 14 points. Decreases: Dairy-produce, 70 points; meat, 41 points; timber, 75 points; minerals. 43 points. The export-prices all-groups index for 1938 (1367) records a decrease of 73 points as compared with the previous year. Though the index for the dairy-produce group recorded a substantial increase for the year, the decline in wool values more than offset this movement.