
In the month
under review, the annual rate of inflation stood at 0.4 per cent, as shown in
Chart 1. A year earlier the annual rate was 0.8 per cent.
The largest upward
impacts on annual inflation were brought about by the Restaurants and Hotels
Index (0.5 percentage points), the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Index
(0.2percentage points) and the Furniture, Household Equipment and Routine
Maintenance of the House Index (0.2 percentage points). This was mainly due to
costlier restaurant services, cigarettes and furniture items respectively.
The main
downward impacts were recorded in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and
Other Fuels Index (-0.7 percentage points), the Transport Index (-0.3
percentage points) and the Communication Index (-0.1 percentage points). This was mainly due to lower electricity
rates, airfares and prices of mobile phones.