The Banco Central de Reserva (BCR), released data from the Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (ONEC),  in its latest bulletin of the Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC) for the month of february 2024.

The Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC)  measures the prices of products and services over time, whether annual, monthly or year-on-year.

The costs of products and services are affected by various factors, including fuel prices. In the last few days, fuel prices have risen, which means that the transportation of millions of fruits and vegetables must be increased, causing consumers to buy more expensive food and other petroleum products.

For february 2024, the general (IPC) index was 130.00, showing a monthly variation of 0.19%, supported by increases in Transportation, Restaurant and hotels, Clothing and footwear, and Health, while Recreation and culture and Food and non-alcoholic beverages, registered the main monthly decreases.

For the second month of 2024, a lower monthly variation is observed with respect to february 2023, where growth was 0.59% (mainly explained by increases in Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Transportation).

The divisions with the largest positive monthly variations are Transportation with 1.93% (fuels and air travel), Restaurants and hotels with 0.33% (Pupusas, tamales and breakfast); and Apparel and footwear with 0.23% (Children's T-shirt, women's underwear and sock and stocking).

Likewise, the participation by divisions in the monthly inflation is analyzed by means of the incidence; the positive variations of prices in six divisions drove monthly inflation upwards, standing out the upward incidences of Transportation 0.20%, Restaurants, and hotels 0.03%, counterbalanced by the downward contribution of Food and non-alcoholic beverages -0.03%.

For february 2024, the top five products that contributed the most to the monthly (IPC) increase are: Potatoes, air travel, special and regular gasoline, and diesel; these were offset by the negative performance of some products, such as: tomato, fertilizer and manure, green chili, tortilla and payment for mill service.

Annual inflation was 0.80% for february 2024, which is 6.02 percentage points lower than a year ago, when it was 6.82

For february 2024, the main year-over-year increases at the division level occurred in: Restaurants and hotels (5.70%); Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (2.66%); Health (2.62%); Food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.15%) and Clothing and footwear (1.8%).

The accumulated (IPC) inflation as of february 2024 (Graph 2) was 0.51%, which is 0.42 percentage points lower than that observed in the same month of the previous year, when it was 0.93%.

This behavior is explained by a lower variation rhythm in prices, which contributed to maintain a lower inflation level than the one registered in february 2023.

Translated by: A.M