The one-quarter — January-March — inflation rate was 10.19 percent compared to an inflation rate of just 4.43 percent for all of FY 2007, the report said.
Driving the skyrocketing costs in Majuro were food and utility price rises, the EPPSO report said.
EPPSO staff found “major increases in the price of flour, rice, eggs and many other (food) items,” said the report, which is issued quarterly. Utilities and major appliances jumped 30 percent during the quarter.
The EPPSO report shows that inflation had been relatively low until 2008, with an average of about only 1.5 percent per quarter price increases during FY 2006 and FY 2007.
Ebeye, the country’s second major urban center with a population of about 12,000, saw inflation jump by 6.7 percent during this period. But Ebeye prices are already significantly higher than in Majuro.
The EPPSO consumer price index report shows that Ebeye prices rose by nearly double the inflation rate for the previous quarter — October-December.
Utility and retail clothing costs rose significantly during the quarter, EPPSO said.
The report shows that the same basket of food that costs $136.63 on Majuro costs $169.40 on Ebeye — 24 percent more.
Ebeye is located next to the U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll, which is a key missile defense testing facility. About 1,000 Marshall Islanders work at the base.
The report shows that in the October to December 2007 period, a 20-pound bag of rice cost $8.30 on Majuro and $9.58 on Ebeye. But in the January-March period this year, that same bag of rice rose to $9.80 on Majuro and $10.47 on Ebeye.
Similarly, a 20-pound bag of flour was $13.60 on Majuro and $19.11 on Ebeye in the October-December 2007 period. These prices rose to $16.96 and $20.02 for January-March 2008, the report said.
