The index of prices to the consumer (IPC) registered a variation year-on-year of 3.29% in September 2024, lower than the rates of 3.54% in July and 3.42% in August, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
Given this variation highlights that the inflation It remains between the lower limit and the center of the target range of 4.0% ± 1.0% for the tenth consecutive month, since December 2023.
In a press release, he highlights that this behavior is the result of a inflation monthly of 0.30% in September 2024, which is below those observed in the months of July (0.53%) and August (0.40%), respectively, explained to a greater extent by the slowdown in the growth rate of the prices of the food.
He BCRD informs that, with regard to the inflation underlying of the last twelve months, it stood at 4.01% at the end of September 2024. In this way, the inflation underlying remains around the center of the objective established by the BCRD.
This indicator allows us to extract clearer signals for the conduct of monetary policy, because it excludes some items that normally do not respond to the liquidity conditions in the economy, such as food with great variability in their pricesfuels and services with prices regulated such as the electricity rate, the transportin addition to the drinks alcoholic and tobacco.
The data of a inflation year-on-year of 3.29% in September 2024 places the Dominican Republic among the countries of lesser inflation of Latin America, excluding the dollarized economies (Panama, Ecuador and El Salvador), ensures the BCRD.
What went up and down
In the comparative analysis of September with August 2024, it is observed that the group Food and non-alcoholic beverages experienced an increase of 0.32%, lower than the variations of 1.42% and 0.42% observed in July and August.
The food products with the highest incidence in inflation This item included garlic, green bananas, potatoes, fresh chicken and rice, among others. In contrast, reductions were reported in prices of avocados, onions, cassava, chili peppers and oranges.
The Education group, second in terms of contribution to inflation of the month, presented a variation of 2.13% upon completing the registration process for the new 2024-2025 school year, verifying increases in student fees schools private for services of primary, secondary and preschool education.
To a lesser extent, increases were observed in services of education university. Another component of school spending that registered increases in September was the transportation service. transport school, a typical behavior of this season.
Regarding the index of prices of Restaurants and Hotels, he observed a rate of variation of 0.52% as a result of increases in prices of meals prepared outside the home, mainly in services dish of the day, chicken and food service with accompaniment.
The CPI of the Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco group reached a variation of 1.93%, explained by the increase in prices of the beer packaged. While the index of prices Housing verified a rate of 0.22% as a result of increases in prices of the services of rent and maintenance of the dwelling.
The inflation of Miscellaneous Goods and Services stood at 0.24% derived from the increase in prices in the services of personal care. Likewise, the Health category registered a rate of inflation of 0.33% due to increases in prices presented in some pharmaceuticals.
In contrast, the Transportation group recorded a variation negative of 0.06%, basically caused by the decrease in prices of the service of air ticket. The increases evident in the service of transport school and automobiles meant that the drop in this group was not of greater magnitude.
“It should be noted that the measures implemented by the Executive Branch when providing the subsidy to domestic fuels have mitigated the impact of this group on the variation of the general CPI”, indicates the bank.
Inflation of tradable goods and non-tradable
The CPI of the tradable goods experienced a variation of 0.13% in September 2024, due to the increase in prices observed in the beer packaged goods and some foodstuffs. In addition, automobiles contributed to this growth.
Regarding the variation monthly index of goods and services non-tradables, it stood at 0.47%.
Inflation by geographical areas
The inflation by geographic regions in September, compared to August 2024, shows that the index of prices of the Ozama region, which includes the National District and the Santo Domingo province, grew by 0.32%, and in the regions North 0.26%, East 0.27% and South 0.36%.
Regarding the most pronounced variations observed in the regions Sur and Ozama, the first is attributed to the greater incidence of the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Miscellaneous Goods and Services groups. Meanwhile, the rate of variation In the Ozama region it is mainly due to the greater incidence of the Education and Housing sectors.
Finally, the results of the price indices by socioeconomic strata reflected variation rates of 0.33% for quintiles 1 and 2 and 0.32% for quintile 3.
The highest income quintiles, quintiles 4 and 5, presented variations of 0.33 and 0.24%, respectively. The lower rate exhibited in quintile 5 is mainly explained by the greater incidence of the transportation group, which is due to price reductions in air ticket rates.
