The headline inflation at the national level accelerated further to 4.7 percent in February 2021, from 4.2 percent in January 2021. This is the highest inflation posted since January 2019.
Inflation in February 2020 stood at 2.6 percent.
The uptrend in the country’s inflation was mainly brought about by the uptick in the inflation of the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 6.7 percent during the month, from 6.1 percent in January 2021.
Contributing also to the uptrend in the overall inflation during the month were the higher annual increments recorded in the indices of the following commodity groups:
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 12.2 percent;
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, 0.9 percent;
Health, 2.9 percent;
Transport, 10.4 percent;
Communication, 0.3 percent; and
Restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, 3.2 percent.
On the other hand, inflation slowed down for furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house at 2.4 percent. The indices of the rest of the commodity groups retained their previous month’s annual rates.
Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation inched up to 3.5 percent in February 2021, from 3.4 percent in the January 2021. In February 2020, core inflation was posted at 3.2 percent.
At the national level, inflation for food picked up further to 7.0 percent in February 2021, from 6.6 percent in the previous month. In February 2020, inflation for food was observed at 2.1 percent.
The meat index continued to move upward as its annual rate went up further to 20.7 percent during the month. Faster annual upticks were also noticed in the indices of fish at 5.1 percent; oils and fats, 3.3 percent; and food products not elsewhere classified, 4.6 percent. Moreover, the annual rate of the index of rice rose to 0.5 percent, from zero percent annual growth in the previous month. The rest of the food groups exhibited slower annual hikes, except for milk, cheese, and egg food group, which retained its previous month’s annual rate of 1.7 percent.
source: PSA