The inflation rate stayed unchanged in December 2024 at the 0.5 percent rate that was recorded the previous month, says the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in its latest Consumer Price Index Report.
“The Inflation Rate for December 2024, which measures the percentage change in the All Items Index for the month of December 2024 over December 2023, was 0.5%. This remained unchanged from the previous period (November 2024/November 2023) of 0.5%. The Inflation Rate for the comparative period (December 2023/December 2022) was 0.7%,” the CSO explained in the report.
However, the All Items Index showed a slight uptick. Calculated from the prices collected for the month of December 2024, the index was 124.7, representing an increase of 0.1 point or 0.1% above the All Items Index for November 2024.
The CSO also is reporting a slight increase in the Index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. It went up to 152.4 in December from 151.6 in November. This reflects an increase of 0.5%.
“Contributing significantly to this increase was the general upward movement in the prices of fresh whole chicken, tomatoes, parboiled rice, fresh carite, cheddar cheese, garlic, full cream powdered milk, fresh king fish, Irish potatoes, and celery,” the report notes.
It added: “However, the full impact of these price increases was offset by the general decreases in the prices of soya bean oil, table margarine, other chilled or frozen chicken, carrots, brown sugar, ochroes, cabbage, ketchup, eddoes and dasheen.”
Meanwhile, data for December 2024 compared with November 2024 showed increases in the sub-indices for Clothing and Footwear of 0.1% and Health of 0.2 %. During this period, there also was a decrease in the sub-index for Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of 0.5%. All other sections remained unchanged.
