January food prices up over higher cost of vegetables

Food prices registered the the highest annual inflation rates in January 2024 at 9.1%, in the latest data published by the National Statistics Office.

The lowest annual inflation rates were registered in transport and communication (-1.6 per cent) and clothing and footwear (-0.5 per cent).

In January 2024, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the RPI was 3.2 per cent, down from 3.6 per cent in December 2023. The largest upward impact on annual inflation was registered in the food index (+1.95 percentage points), largely due to higher prices of vegetables.

The second and third largest impacts were measured in the ‘other goods and services’ index (+0.41 percentage points) and the personal care and health index (+0.34 percentage points), mainly on account of higher prices of cleaning products and articles of personal hygiene, respectively.

The downward impacts on annual inflation were registered in the transport and communication (-0.35 percentage points), clothing and footwear (-0.03 percentage points) and recreation and culture (-0.02 percentage points), mainly reflecting lower prices of mobile phone services, garments and audio-visual equipment.

Food registered the highest annual inflation rate at 9.1 per cent, of which food, excluding restaurant services and take-aways, registered an annual rate of 9.8 per cent and restaurant services and take-aways registered an annual rate of 7.2 per cent.

Transport and communications registered the lowest annual inflation rate of -1.6 per cent, of which transport registered an annual rate of -0.7 per cent and communication registered an annual rate of -4.4 per cent.