THE cost of going to the hairdresser may have shot up in July, along with almost everything else, except for telephone calls.

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) reported a 0.5 per cent increase in prices last month, which pushed overall inflation for the first seven months of 2013 to 4.4 per cent.

Much like in June, the government agency recorded a 0.7 per cent rise in the prices for miscellaneous goods and services, which largely reflected the higher prices consumers paid for services from ‘hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments’ and for ‘other appliances, articles and products for personal care’.

The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages prices moved upward by 0.6 per cent, mainly due to higher prices for fruits (which rose by 2.4 per cent in July), vegetables and starchy foods (up 1.2 per cent).

Transportation prices rose by 0.2 per cent, while there was a 0.8 per cent upward movement in the index ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, which are the second and third heaviest weighted divisions in the Consumer Price Index.

On the other hand, the index for the division ‘communication’ reported the only decline for July — by 3.7 per cent.

“This decline was largely attributable to the fall in call rates due to the decision of the Office of Utilities Regulation to lower termination rates for telephone calls,” said STATIN in a press statement released last week. “There was a similar fall of 3.7 per cent for the calendar year-to-date and the fiscal year-to-date inflation.”

The rate of inflation in July was 0.3 percentage point higher than the 0.2 per cent rate recorded for June.

The fiscal year-to-date and point-to-point rates were 1.6 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively.