Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa’s inflation for the second quarter of 2022 registered at 11.8% — an increase of 0.2% from the first quarter, according to the Commerce Department’s Statistics & Analysis Division for the Consumer Price Index for the 2nd Quarter of 2022 — for the period of April to June. 

 “While the annual rise in our territory’s inflation rate is starting to balance out, the impact from increases in our prices this quarter is still felt,” said DOC, which reiterated what it reported in the previous quarter, that the local inflation rate, is forecasted to remain above double digits throughout the year and will probably lower to 6-8% at the end of 2022.

Additionally, inflation should finally run down to 2-4% around the end of 2023 or early 2024 unless there is another hike in crude oil prices in the near future.

The report, citing “Point of Interest”, notes that along with local circumstances, current international events also impact the island’s economy. “Sanctions and trading restrictions have spiked prices in everyday commodities like gas, oil and other food commodities,” the report observed.

Additionally, fiscal efforts such as stimulus checks, tax credits and other tax extensions have been put in place to counter inflation fore-shadowed by COVID-19. Furthermore, recent changes in COVID Code Red policies including lifting of the nightly curfew have also allowed most businesses to return to normal operations.

For the overall summary of the 2nd quarter CPI, the DOC report states that Food Group was the highest expenditure category for the local CPI until recently. Now registering at 16.4%, Transportation Group beats the Food Group by 0.1%. The third largest expenditure group: Education and Communication has increased by 14.3% this year. These 3 groups account for more than half the expense an average consumer would spend.

“Food Group usually being the top expenditure group except in this quarter,” the report said. (However, Samoa News notes that the continued high cost of food has always been the biggest complaint circulating in the community.)

TRANSPORTATION GROUP

Transportation expenses are up by 5.4%. Major household commodities like gasoline and electricity have been affected by external factors. “Because the fuel oil trade has been strained by actions and other political tensions, local costs of commodities are negatively affected — i.e. higher prices,” the report said.

It also states that gasoline by itself went up by 11 % this quarter and the cost of new vehicles, and automotive repairs have also contributed to the annual increase of 16.4%.

Data in the DOC report shows that the average gasoline price for 2nd quarter was $5.12 per gallon, compared to $4.58 per gallon in the first quarter of 2022, while it was $4.30 per gallon for the 4th quarter of 2021.

For electricity, data shows that the average per KWh (kilowatt hour) in the second quarter was $0.42, which increased from $0.35 per kWh in the first quarter of 2022 and $0.33 in the 4th quarter of 2021.

The data reaffirms what the American Samoa Power Authority has reported over the past year, with the latest report for June saying that the spike in fuel cost, has increased the fuel surcharge portion of the June 2022 kWh system rate, since the most recent low in January 2021, by 57%.  That equates to a 21cent increase in the kWh rate.

FOOD GROUP

Food Group increased by 1.5% for the quarter and compared to last year, the overall cost of food has gone up by 16.3%, the report points out and noted that about half of all food items monitored have increases this quarter.

Eggs are among the food items that increased this quarter — up by 23%. “Eggs have been short in supply again this quarter as seen by the continued consumer buying limitations,” the report points out.

Other food items with the highest increase are chicken wings — up by 16%. The report also says that pork ribs, candies (M&Ms, Snickers), potatoes, onions and shrimp all increased more than 5%.

Some items that have not shown increases this quarter are sugar, turkey wings, mackerel and McDonald's Happy Meal.

OTHER GROUPS

•           Education and Communication Group increased by 2.3% with an annual increase of 14.3%. The rise in this quarter is due to the hike in prices for computers and laptops. Other components of this group like elementary, high school and community college tuition fees have remained the same, the report states.

•           Housing Group is up by 1.8% this quarter, with the annual hike of 13.1%, according the report, which notes that expenses such as electricity increased by 20% and home insurance up by 5.9% — are among the contributing factors.

•           Apparel Group registered a 1.8% increase and the few items to have contributed to the hike are women’s dresses (up 4.7%), t-shirts (3.9%) and mens’ and boys’ footwear (2.9%).

•           Medical Care Group increased by 2.4% and the overall increase was caused by a 13% increase in non-prescription drugs since last quarter.

•           Recreational Group in the first quarter of 2022 didn’t see much activity due to COVID-19 restrictions, with the partial shutdown following the community outbreak of COVID with the first recorded case in late February.

“As these restrictions were loosened in the 2nd quarter, businesses such as fitness gyms and local cinema began to operate with some normalcy again,” said DOC, which points out that the increase for this quarter is attributed to items such as bingo papers, fishing equipment and books. The quarterly index for this group increased by 1.9%.

NEW DATA REPORTED

New data included in this quarterly report, is the average price of “construction material comparison”. DOC noted that these items — used for large scale construction and individual home projects — are considered a few of the basic commodities for construction on the island.

And items are compared by the same dimensions and are found at more than 1 supplier. Construction is not a group of its own for the CPI because it is already included in the Housing Group.

Construction materials itemized for comparison in the report are plywood (2x4x16), cement bags (40kgs), dry wall (4x8) and exterior paint — which has the highest increase since the first quarter of this year.

The first quarter shows average price of exterior paint at $42.26 in the first quarter of 2022 and increased to $44.19 for the second quarter.  The report did not mention what size paint cans they priced.