G.F. 323
82.
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The consumer price index is heavily influenced by the prices
of foodstuffs.
41.
Diagram 12 shows movements in the consumer price'index
together with movements in the food and non-food portion of the index.
Consumer prices of non-food items were on a very steady climb all
through 1975 and 1976 but consumer prices of foodstuffs fluctuated widely
although on average the trend increase was moderate.
Prices of raw material and semi-manufactures
83.
After remaining stable in 1975 at a level 13% below that of
1974, import prices of raw materials and semi-manufactures started to
increase during 1976 reflecting a general recovery in demand in the
largo industrial economies. The unit value index of imported raw
materials and semi-manufactures for the first three quarters of 1976
was 4.2% higher than for the corresponding period in 1975. Most of the
higher prices were recorded in textile materials including raw cotton;
yam of cotton, wool and man-made fibres; and fabrics of man-made fibres.
Part of the increase was compensated for by lower (compared to the
corresponding period in 1975) import prices of such non-textile materials
as chemicals, iron a steel, paper and paperboard, and construction
materials. However, towards the fourth quarter of 1976 import prices of
textile materials stabilized cwing to slackened consumer demand overseas
during the second and thir? quarters of 1976 coupled with over restocking
carlier in the year.
84.
Diagram 13]
Frices of construction materials have also stabilised since the
second quarter of 1976 after recovering during the first quarter of 1976
from the trough recorded in the last quarter of 1975. This has, to a
certain extent prevented domestic building and construction costs from
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