Yellowknife facing rising prices
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 24/01) - The annual cost of living in Yellowknife is rising.
While the inflation rate is barely in the single digits, rising fuel costs and tighter housing demands suggest prices may continue their upward move.
The annual all-items consumer price index rose 1.7 per cent last year, compared to a one per cent increase for 1999, according to Statistics Canada figures released by the NWT Bureau of Statistics.
"Prices are definitely starting to creep up," said Dan Westman, manager of economic policy with the territorial government's Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.
Things to watch out for in Yellowknife are fuel and accommodation costs, he said.
If fuel costs continue to rise and accommodation availability continues to get squeezed, there will be more "inflationary pressure in the city."
Energy costs also has implications for other services: higher fuel prices mean higher costs of getting goods to Yellowknife, he adds.
We're hit by fuel prices (in Yellowknife) because of the colder climate and the distances covered to transport fuel here, he said.
Increases for 2000 and 1999 followed a small decline in 1998 and a small gain in 1997.
Despite the jump for Yellowknife in 2000, the cost of living rose at a slower rate in the NWT capital than it did in other centres.
Corresponding year 2000 annual inflation figures were 2.7 per cent for Canada, 3.3 per cent for Edmonton and 2.2 per cent for Whitehorse.
Final month jump
The Yellowknife all-items consumer price index for December was 1.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.
By comparison, the annual price increase was 3.2 per cent for Canada, 3.7 per cent for Edmonton and 2.5 per cent for Whitehorse.
In Yellowknife, prices for consumer goods and services in December were 0.2 per cent higher compared to November.
The rise in consumer price index was mainly due to price increases for fresh vegetables, household textiles, other cereal grains and cereal products and fuel oil and other fuel.
Offsetting price declines were recorded for inter-city transportation, reading material and other printed matter, women's clothing and travel services.
When comparing December 1999 and December 2000, the 1.6 per cent increase is largely due to fuel costs increasing by one-third.
The largest contributor in offsetting this annual price increase was a 6.7 per cent decline in the inter-city transportation.
