The inflation rate remained unchanged, and there was a slight dip in the food price index for March 2024, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) is saying in the latest edition of its Consumer Price Index Report.
The report for the month of March 2024 was released earlier today.
With regard to Inflation Rate changes, the CSO reports a rate of 0.8% for the month of March 2024 over March 2023.
“This remains unchanged from what was recorded in the previous period (February 2024/February 2023),” the CSO report explains. “The Inflation Rate for the comparative period March 2023/March 2022) was 7.3%.”
The report also observes that the All Items Index calculated from the prices collected for the month of March 2024 was 123.8, which represents a decrease of 0.3 points (or 0.2%) below the All Items Index for February 2024.
In addition, the Index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased from 147.9 in February 2024 to 146.2 in March 2024, reflecting a decrease of 1.2%.
“Contributing significantly to this decrease was the general downward movement in the prices of fresh whole chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, cheddar cheese, table margarine, celery, fresh king fish, plantains, fresh carite and soya bean oil,” the report says.
“However, the full impact of these price decreases were offset by the general increase in the prices of grapes, hot peppers, oranges, melongene, bodi, ochroes, pumpkin, frozen whole chicken, parboiled rice and other fruit drinks,” it added.
The CSO notes the data for March 2024, when compared with February 2024, reflected an increase in the sub-index for Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of 1.1%. It says there also was a decrease in the sub-indices for Clothing and Footwear of 0.2%, for the same period. It points out, however, that all other sections remained unchanged.