Entering May 2009, most commodities in the city of Bandar Lampung experienced a decline in prices. Low public purchasing power, which has implications for decreasing demand, is still the main cause of falling prices. Apart from that, the success of the harvest and the smooth distribution of goods resulted in relatively stable prices, even some manufactured commodities tended to decline. Some commodities, such as rice, in several regions experienced an increase in production and supply, causing the price of rice on the market to decline until the third week of May 2009. The fall in prices for most commodities in May 2009 resulted in deflation of 0.37 percent. Inflation in Bandar Lampung City is ranked 57th out of 66 cities where price developments are observed. Overall, 40 cities experienced inflation and 26 cities experienced deflation. The highest inflation occurred in Maumere at 1.58 percent and the largest deflation occurred in Jayapura at 1.31 percent.
Based on the calculation of the consumer price index (CPI), inflation occurred due to a decrease in the index in the foodstuffs group by 1.06 percent, housing 0.42 percent, clothing 0.01 percent, education, recreation and sports 0.41 percent and the transport and communications group by 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, the ready-made food, beverages, cigarettes and tobacco and health services groups experienced increases of 0.23 percent and 0.20 percent, respectively.
Some commodities that contribute to deflation include rice, spinach, clothes, bean sprouts, vegetable tomatoes, color television, fruit tomatoes, purebred chicken eggs, mackerel and young jackfruit. The inflation rate for Bandar Lampung City for the calendar year was -0.72 percent and "year on year" inflation (May 2009 versus May 2008) was 8.04 percent.
