
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 22, 1993                   TAG: 9306220024
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE VALLEY ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The rate of inflation is supposed to be low, but it still cost $144.20 last month to buy the same items that $100 would buy a decade ago.

The Consumer Price Index stood at 144.2 in May compared to 100 for the base years of 1982-1984.

The index was up 0.1 from 144 in April and up 3.2 points from 139.7 a year earlier.

The number of building permits fell from 566 in April to 486 in May. That's a drop of 14 percent but, with the arrival of good weather, a large number of permits were issued in April for single-family homes.

May showed a 3.2 percent increase against the 471 permits issued in May 1992.

The values of the building permits were badly skewed by special projects.

Roanoke Valley localities issued permits worth $10,207,862 last month.

That's lower than $15,073,437 in April, but $3 million of that was for expansion of Yokohama Tire Co. in Salem. The $33,832,255 in May 1992 included $27 million for the addition to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

by CNB