Almost all indicators used in the Retail Prices Index rose over the period, with the largest contributors to the overall annual 3.6% rate increase being housing, household services, motoring and leisure services.
In the UK the rate of inflation was 1.9%.
Explaining the effect of the rate increase of housing, which rose by 4.9% on average, the report, compiled by Statistics Jersey, said: ‘Price increases were seen across the group, which includes house purchase costs, rents, dwelling insurance, water charges [increased in April 2018] and Islandwide parish rates [increased in September 2018].
‘The key drivers were rents in both the public and private sectors, and the increased cost of house purchase. The latter was due to higher mortgage interest payments following the increase in the Bank of England base rate in August 2018.’
The report also said that household services, which include phone charges, school fees and postal prices, increased on average by 6.2% over the 12-month period.
Meanwhile, leisure services such as the price of holidays, TV licences and recreational activities, increased on average by 4.8% during the same time.
Drivers were also hit with a 5.6% price increase in the cost of motoring over the same period. This includes items such as motor vehicles, fuels and insurance.
The report added that petrol rose by two pence per litre, and diesel by seven pence, between March 2018 and March 2019.
The document also revealed that increased impôt duties introduced in January 2019 contributed 0.17% to the overall annual change in RPI. It accounted for almost all of the contribution to the rate increase from sales of tobacco, half of motor fuels and a sixth from sales of alcohol.
However, the cost of clothing and footwear reduced the annual change, with average prices decreasing by 3.8% within the group – contributing a decrease of 0.1 percentage points to the RPI.
