In March 2020, headline inflation was 2.2 percent, the same as in the past three consecutive months, remaining below the lower bound of the Bank’s medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and lower than the 3.3 percent in March 2019. The constant inflation between February and March 2020 reflects relatively stable prices for some categories of goods and services: Education (4.7 percent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (1.5 percent); Transport (0.8 percent) and Communication (0.3 percent), as well as offsetting movements in the annual price changes for the rest of the commodity groups. Inflation fell for: Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (from 5 to 4.8 percent); Restaurants and Hotels (from 3.8 to 3.6 percent); Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages’ (from 3.5 to 3.4 percent); Furnishing, Household Equipment and Routine Maintenance (from 3 to 2.9 percent); and Recreation and Culture (from -0.2 to -0.3 percent). The downward pressure on inflation was partly offset by inflation increasing with respect to: Clothing and Footwear (from 1.6 to 1.7 percent); Health (from 0.8 to 0.9 percent); and Miscellaneous Goods and Services (from 5 to 5.1 percent).
The 16 percent trimmed mean inflation and inflation excluding administered prices remained unchanged at 1.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, between February and March 2020.