Entering March 2009, several regions experienced a rice harvest, so the increase in rice production and supply caused the price of rice on the market to decrease slightly. Apart from that, relatively good weather for vegetable crops has caused an increase in agricultural products so that the prices of several types of vegetables have also decreased. In March 2009, the city of Bandar Lampung experienced inflation of 0.25 percent, ranking 33rd out of 66 cities where price developments were observed. Overall, 44 cities experienced inflation and 22 cities experienced deflation. The highest inflation occurred in Jayapura at 1.67 percent and the largest deflation occurred in Maumere at 1.34 percent.
Based on the calculation of the consumer price index (CPI), inflation occurred due to an increase in the index for processed food, beverages, cigarettes and tobacco by 0.85 percent, housing, water, electricity and fuel by 0.70 percent, clothing by 1.72 percent, education , recreation and sports 0.20 percent and the transport and communications group 0.08 percent. Meanwhile, two groups experienced a decline in the index, namely the foodstuffs group which fell by 0.68 percent and health services by 0.18 percent.
Some commodities that contribute to inflation include gold jewelry, filtered kretek cigarettes, house contracts, granulated sugar, sand, wages for housemaids, bananas, papaya, watermelon and goldfish. The inflation rate for the city of Bandar Lampung for the calendar year was 0.92 percent and "year on year" inflation (March 2009 to March 2008) was 11.76 percent.
