Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 25/00) - The cost of fuel went up. But car and lease costs were down, according to the latest cost of living figures.

Statistics Canada numbers, released Friday by the GNWT Bureau of Statistics, indicates that the Yellowknife all-Items consumer price index for September was 1.5 per cent higher than a year earlier. By comparison, the annual price increase was 2.7 per cent for Canada, 3.2 per cent for Edmonton and 2.4 per cent for Whitehorse.

The overall price increase in Yellowknife of 1.5 per cent between September 1999 and September 2000 can be largely attributed to a 37.7 per cent increase in fuel oil and other fuel. The largest item offsetting this annual price increases was an 8.6 per cent decline in the purchase and leasing of automobiles.

In Yellowknife, prices for consumer goods and services in September were 0.1 per cent more compared to August. This was the result of several opposing price movements. Price increases with the largest impact were those for shelter, particularly, fuel oil and other fuel.

Higher prices were noted as well for women's clothing, tuition fees and gasoline. Lower prices for personal care supplies and equipment, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and fresh or frozen beef contributed a notable offsetting effect.

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 all-items indexes published for these centres are not strictly comparable to those for Canada and Edmonton.