New official inflation data from Antigua and Barbuda has revealed a dramatic spike in communication sector costs that is outpacing price growth across every other major consumer spending category, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report published by the National Bureau of Statistics under the country’s Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance.
For the 12-month period ending in July 2026, communication costs recorded a staggering 23.1% year-on-year jump, marking the largest increase among all core expenditure categories tracked by the statistical agency. The acceleration of price growth was especially sharp in the month of July alone, with the communication price index surging 21.7% compared to levels recorded in June 2026.
The communication sector CPI tracks prices for a range of consumer goods and services, including mobile handsets, cellular service plans, and fixed and mobile internet subscriptions. Price data for these categories is collected on a quarterly basis by the bureau to inform aggregate index calculations.
The sharp uptick in communication costs comes as the country’s overall headline inflation hit 4.4% year-on-year in July 2026. On a monthly basis, overall consumer prices across all sectors also rose by 2.1% from June to July, signalling broad-based upward pressure on consumer costs amid the outsized growth in communication pricing.