American Expatriate Costa Rica

Inflation falls due to drop in fuel prices

For the second consecutive month, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was negative (from -0-10%).

According to data from the Costa Rican Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), the variation left an inflation of 2.53% in the 12 months to September, below the inflation target of 3% set by the Central Bank of Costa Rica for this year .

INEC data reveal that of the 315 goods and services that make up the consumer basket, 50% increased in price, 39% decreased in price and 11% showed no variation.

During the previous month, six of the twelve groups that make up the index showed a decrease in prices. These are: entertainment and culture, communications, health, furniture, food and non-alcoholic beverages and clothing and footwear.

On the contrary, the groups of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes (0.74%) and of various goods and services (0.56%) increased.

In September of the last ten years, the highest interannual variation occurred in 2013 with 5.37%, while 2015 saw the only negative interannual variation (-0.86%).

crhoy.com