Yellowknife (Aug 23/00) - The Yellowknife all-items consumer price index for July was 1.7 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada figures from the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

By comparison, the annual price increase was 3.0 per cent for Canada, 3.7 per cent for Edmonton and 2.5 per cent for Whitehorse.

Overall, prices for consumer goods and services in Yellowknife rose one-half per cent for the month of July. Higher prices were reported for travel services, fresh fruit, inter-city transportation and beer.

Consumers also paid more for personal-care supplies and equipment, other household goods and services and gasoline.

Offsetting price declines in Yellowknife were recorded for non-alcoholic beverages, sugar and confectionery and purchase and leasing automotive vehicles.

The overall price increase in Yellowknife of 1.7 per cent between July 1999 and July 2000 can be largely attributed to a 41.7 per cent increase in fuel oil and other fuel prices and a 18.7 per cent increase in gasoline prices. Declines in the indexes for non-alcoholic beverages, children's clothing and fresh fruit moderated the upward movement.

CPI values for Yellowknife and Whitehorse include estimates of price changes for owned accommodation based on the price of rental accommodation. As a result, the indexes published for these cities are not strictly comparable to those for Canada and Edmonton.