A QUESTION OF BUSINESS | A more careful examination of statistics shows that rising inflation is not entirely due to higher prices of fuel as oil prices recover but also due to rises in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages, a major concern for the man on the street.

Inflation has been climbing this year, rising to an eight-year high of 5.1 percent in March (see chart) compared to prices a year ago. The Department of Statistics (DOS) attributed this to a 23 percent increase in transport costs but these account only for 13 percent of total costs in the consumer price index or CPI which measures inflation.

But consider this from the DOS report: “The index for Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages which accounted for 30.2 percent in the CPI weights, increased 4.1 percent in March 2017.

“The increase was fuelled by the food sub-group which comprised Oils and Fats (+38.8 percent), Fish & Seafood (+5.2 percent), Vegetables (+4.8 percent), Meat (+3.7 percent) and Fruits (+3.7 percent).

“As for the Food Away From Home index, it continued to rise in March 2017 and showed an increase of 4.4 percent.”

That’s worrisome in a period which is not particularly inflationary for the rest of the world - in fact most countries are currently experiencing lower inflation. Here’s a sample of latest announced rates: Hong Kong 0.5 percent, Singapore 0.7 percent, India 3.8 percent, China 0.9 percent, Indonesia 3.6 percent, Thailand 0.76 percent and Philippines 3.4 percent.

Apart from the increase in oil prices, the other major factor that would have accounted for price increases is the continued slide in the value of the ringgit, which would pushed prices of oil further up as well as the price for edible oils and fats. In fact, the ringgit has been one of the worst performing currencies of late which means imported goods would have risen in price significantly.

If we don’t watch it we may be on the road to becoming a high-inflation country, a position we have not been in before. But there are ways to stop the slide and this has to start with moves at the policy level to improve the overall efficiency and health of the economy and then move to actions on the ground.

Here are 10 ways to do that...