Entering April 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. Apart from that, several commodities in the residential sub-sector such as sand, bricks and iron also experienced quite significant declines. The decline in prices of various commodities is not only due to the big harvest, but also due to low people's purchasing power. In April 2009, the city of Bandar Lampung experienced deflation of 1.26 percent, ranking 64th out of 66 cities where price developments were observed. Overall, 16 cities experienced inflation and 50 cities experienced deflation. The highest inflation occurred in Palopo at 0.99 percent and the largest deflation occurred in Manado at 1.32 percent.
Based on the calculation of the consumer price index (CPI), inflation occurred due to a decline in the index in the food ingredients group by 3.12 percent, housing by 0.95 percent and clothing by 4.17 percent. Meanwhile, the processed food, beverages, cigarettes and tobacco and health services groups each experienced an increase of 0.42 percent and transport and communications by 0.02 percent. The education, recreation and sports groups did not experience changes.
Some commodities that contribute to inflation include rice, gold jewelry, red chilies, household fuel, mackerel, goldfish, tuna, papaya, fresh squid and sand. The inflation rate for Bandar Lampung City for the calendar year was -0.35 percent and "year on year" inflation (April 2009 to April 2008) was 10.75 percent.
