Retail Price index puts inflation at 0.53% in March 2016

The Retail Price Index has put the annual rate of inflation at 0.53% in March 2016, compared to 0.31% in February, NSO figures show.

Statistics show that the monthly inflation rate registered in March 2016 was 0.66 per cent, up from 0.31 per cent registered in February 2016.

According to NSO, the main upward impacts on annual inflation were recorded in the beverages and tobacco index (0.25 percentage points), the recreation and culture index (0.23 percentage points), and the household equipment and house maintenance costs index (0.15 percentage points), mainly due to the higher prices of cigarettes, expenses related to education and costlier household appliances respectively.

According to figures, the transport and communication index (0.47 percentage points), the clothing and footwear index (0.06 percentage points) and the water, electricity, gas and fuel index (0.04 percentage points) were the main downward impacts on annual inflation, mainly reflecting price reductions in package holidays, garments and gas respectively

The twelve-month moving average rate was 1.04 per cent