The price of a stamp is to rise by more than the government’s preferred measure of inflation.

From May 15, the price of stamp for a standard letter to the UK and Isle of Man will increase by 2p to 47p.

That’s a rise of 4.4 per cent.

Inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index last month was 2.2 per cent, although the Retail Prices Index was 7.9 per cent.

The Isle of Man Post Office says the rise is down to increased fuel and transportation costs and increased charges by commercial partners.

There are changes across all weight steps on the domestic large letter and packet prices ‘to bring them more into line with competitor pricing tariffs’, the Post Office says.

Some adjustments have been made to letters, large letters and packets for international destinations to maintain competiveness with other postal jurisdictions.

There’s good news for customers who use the guaranteed next day service Special Delivery and Parcelforce Worldwide services. All of these prices being held for this year.

Ancillary services such as KeepSafe, Redirect, private boxes business and residential, single collection fees and Door to Door will all be subject to increases.

Julie Edge MHK, chairman of Isle of Man Post Office, said: ‘It’s always regrettable to increase prices for our customers, however with mail volumes continuing to decline and an increase in overall operational costs it is inevitable. Our services continue to represent good value for money and the Isle of Man continues to provide one of the cheapest first class services across Europe.

‘We remain committed to provide a range of excellent services to the community and businesses alike.’