A survey result, released on Thursday, showed that as Macao's inflation rate kept growing, the ever rising costs of living is piling up pressures on many of the local poor people.

The survey, concerning poor people's living conditions, was launched by the Macao Union General of Community Association (UGAMM), a local non-governmental organization. Seventy-five percent of the surveyed were those who received welfare assistance and pensions from the government.

According to the UGAMM survey, over 60 percent of the surveyed admitted that they were sustaining pressures from surging costs of food, while 42.25 percent said articles for daily use were getting too expensive.

Information from Macao's Statistics and Census Service indicated that the Composite CPI (Consumer Price Index) for January 2008 rose by 8.3 percent year-on-year to 119.61, which was attributable to the marked increase of price indices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 14.42 percent), housing and fuels (up 14.26 percent) and health (up 12.53 percent).

To address these issues, the UGAMM proposed that the special administrative region (SAR) government should increase the allocated amounts of welfare assistance and pensions so as to offset the influence of inflation on poor people's lives.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2008)