From Barry Breuilly.
I READ with interest the latest figures produced by our number crunchers at the States Statistics Unit in relation to the inflation rate for the final quarter of 2008.
Now call me an old sceptic if you must, but I do wonder if the electronic abacus at the statistics unit is either faulty or, as I suspect, has been tampered with to benefit our Treasury.
My reasoning behind this thought is based on two amazing facts which seem to have occurred. In December 2007 the inflation rate was in excess of 5%, the exact excess I cannot recall, and my pension increased accordingly (that is a public employee’s pension). Then in March 2008 the Retail Prices Index dropped miraculously to 3.2%. By the end of June 2008 and September 2008 the RPI was 5.6% and 6.4% respectively. Then once again, either by divine intervention or, dare I say it, manipulation, the RPI has fallen back to, wait for it, 3.3%.
All public employees’ pay rises are geared to the RPI of that year, lo and behold 3.2% for March 2008, down from 5%-odd for December 2007.
Then fantastically, when public employee pensions are fixed, based on the December RPI, the rate drops back to 3.3% from a staggering 6.4% in September 2008. This surely cannot be a coincidence, can it?
3 St Julien Apartments,
Langley Park,
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