The latest Essential Commodities Price Index (ECPI) for Malé shows a slight easing in overall prices in November 2025, driven mainly by lower food costs, according to data published by the Maldives Bureau of Statistics. The ECPI stood at 113.24 for the month, reflecting a month-on-month decline of 0.69 percent. Despite this decrease, prices remained 0.73 percent higher compared with November last year.
Food prices recorded the sharpest monthly drop, falling by 1.11 percent from October. The decline was primarily due to a 4.50 percent fall in fruit prices and a 0.80 percent decrease in milk, dairy products and eggs. These reductions offset increases in categories such as sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery, which rose by 0.63 percent, and cereals, which saw a marginal 0.06 percent increase. On a year-on-year basis, food costs were 0.16 percent higher, with notable increases in oils and fats and sugar-related products, while vegetable prices fell by 7.90 percent.
Beverage prices rose by 0.55 percent during November, supported by increases in tea, maté and plant-based infusions as well as coffee products. Compared with last year, beverage prices were up 2.91 percent, with coffee seeing the largest annual rise at 8.07 percent. Personal care products also rose by 0.54 percent on the month and 3.33 percent over the year.
Gas and other fuel prices remained unchanged in November, though the category showed a year-on-year decline of 0.83 percent. According to the index structure detailed on page 3 of the publication, fuel accounts for 6.43 percent of the ECPI basket, compared with much higher weights for food (70.94 percent) and beverages (14.20 percent).
The ECPI tracks monthly price movements of 96 essential goods through more than 2,500 price quotations. As a sub-index of the Consumer Price Index, it is used as an early warning tool for inflation in essential commodities and can inform price regulation.
