In January 2020, headline inflation was 2.2 percent the same as in December 2019, remaining below the lower bound of the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and lower than the 3.5 percent in January 2019. The constant inflation between December 2019 and January 2020 reflects relatively stable prices for some categories of goods and services. However, there were offsetting movements in the annual price changes for the rest of the commodity groups. Inflation fell for: Transport (from 1.3 to 1 percent); Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 5.3 to 5.2 percent); and Recreation and Culture (from -0.2 to -0.3 percent). To further ease the pressure on inflation, inflation remained stable for: Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (2.7 percent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (1.5 percent); Health (0.8 percent); and Communication (0.4 percent). However, the downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: Education (from 3.1 to 4.8 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (from 2.9 to 3.6 percent); Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco’ (from 4.4 to 4.8 percent); Clothing and Footwear (from 1.3 to 1.5 percent); and Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages’ (from 3 to 3.2 percent).
The trimmed mean inflation and inflation excluding administered prices increased slightly from 1.8 percent and 2.5 percent to 1.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, in the same period.