The city’s inflation grew by 0.72 per cent year-on-year, with the city’s Composite Consumer Price Index reaching 108.78, according to the most recent data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
The results come after February saw the lowest growth in the inflation rate since January of 2010, with only a 0.37 per cent rise.
The DSEC explained that the yearly average price index growth in March was due to higher charges for ‘eating out, an increase in tuition fees and higher gasoline prices’.
The city’s annual inflation rate in March of this year reached 1.69 per cent.
Alcohol, tobacco and education costs up
The largest increase in average price growth for the month when compared to last year was registered in the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, which grew by 8.8 percentage points year-on-year, followed by a hike in the price index of education, which went up by 7.38 percentage points year-on-year, and transportation, which increased 4.33 percent points year-on-year.
According to the report, the average prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages – the largest household expenditure – increased by 0.37 percentage points year-on-year in March.
The largest yearly decreases in average prices in March were registered in housing and fuel costs, which fell by 1.74 percentage points year-on-year, and in communications, which went down by 1.67 percentage points.
On a monthly comparison, the average price index in March grew slightly by 0.01 percentage points from February, with seasonal changes leading to the clothing and footwear segment registering the largest month-to-month decrease in the price index, with a drop of 1.9 percentage points.
Quarterly hikes
In the first three months of 2017, the average price index went up by 0.95 percentage points year-on-year to 108.94.
The largest increase in the first quarter of 2017 was registered in the cost of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, which went up by 7.48 percentage points when compared to the same quarter of last year, and education and transport costs going up by 7.37 percentage points and 6.45 percentage points, respectively.
On the other hand, the housing and fuels price index went down 1.80 percentage points year-on-year in the first three months of the year, with the average price index for communications decreasing by 1.68 percentage points year-on-year.
