Although the year-on-year inflation in the country it was located in 4.95% in December 2025, remaining within the target range of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) of 4.0% ± 1.0%, a sustained performance for 32 consecutive months, from May 2023 to date, the cost of food is putting pressure on the pocket.
In that sense, the BCRD reported this Thursday that the consumer price index (CPI) registered a monthly variation of 0.84% in December.
The monetary body indicated that the variation in the CPI in the month analyzed originated, mainly, from the increases observed in the group Food and Drinks Non-Alcoholic, which explained 50.17% of the inflation of the aforementioned month.
Products that increased in price
Within this group, the price increases of the fresh chickena highly weighted item in the family basket, which was affected production cycle due to the reasons stated above.
Additionally, increases in the prices of commodities continued to have an impact. bananas in their different varieties, chili peppers and tomatoes, whose plantations were adversely impacted by atmospheric phenomena.
With regards to the core inflationin the month of December this stood at 0.63%, lower than the increase observed in the general CPI, which is due to the fact that the underlying index excludes highly volatile consumer goods, such as fresh chicken and the bananas.
In that vein, the core inflation year-on-year stood at 4.85%, also remaining within the objective established by the Central Bank of 4.0% ± 1.0%.
This last indicator allows us to extract clearer signals for driving the monetary policybecause it excludes some items that normally do not respond to the liquidity conditions in the economy, such as foods with great variability in prices, fuels and services with regulated prices such as electricity rates, transportation, as well as alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
Variation by groups
When analyzing the results of the monthly variation of the general CPI corresponding to December 2025, it is observed that the groups with the highest incidence in the inflation were Food and Drinks Non-alcoholic, Goods and Services Various, Restaurants and Hotels, Transport and Recreation and Culture, which together explained 90% of the variation in this indicator.
The group Food and Drinks Non-Alcoholic registered a inflation of 1.59%. This result, as mentioned above, originated from the increases in the prices of fresh chickenthe bananas and its varieties, as well as chili peppers and tomatoes.
- Other items that showed price increases were the coffeecarrot, chicken broth, beef, cassava, potato and rice, while the price decreases in green pigeon peas and vegetables contributed to the variation in this group not being greater.
The group index Goods and Services Miscellaneous presented a variation of 1.32% explained by the increase in prices in personal careparticularly in washing, styling and cutting hair. Similarly, the Recreation and Culture category reflected a rate of inflation of 1.64% due to increases in tourist packages.
While the CPI of the group Restaurants and Hotels exhibited a variation rate of 1.00%, product of the increases in the prices of prepared meals outside the home, highlighting the dish of the day, the food service with accompaniments, the chicken service and the sandwiches.
It points out that the rise in the price index observed in the food supply service responds to the increase in the costs of basic supplies used in their preparation, which directly affect the consumer price of these services.
Regarding the variation of 0.29% evidenced in the group Transportthis responds mainly to increases in air ticket rates and ground transportation services.
- While the sector Furniture and Items for the Home showed a inflation of 0.56%, due to verified increases in the domestic services and furniture repair, in addition to cleaning products and household items
Variation in tradable goods and non-tradable
The CPI of the tradable goods experienced a variation of 0.85% in December 2025, mainly explained by the increase in prices in some food goods, tourist packages and airfare rates. In relation to the index of non-tradable goods and services, the inflation It stood at 0.83%.
Incidence by geographic regions
The inflation by geographic regions in the month of December compared to November shows that the region Ozamawhich includes the National District and the Santo Domingo province, reached a variation of 0.80%, the North or Cibao region of 0.87%, the East region of 0.67% and the Southern region of 1.05%.
The most pronounced rate of variation verified in the Southern region due to a greater contribution from the group Food and Drinks Non-alcoholic. In contrast, the lower level of inflation observed in the Eastern region is explained by a lower contribution from the Food groups, Restaurants and Hotels and Transport.
Measurement by quintiles
The BCRD concludes that the results of the price indices by socioeconomic strata showed a rate of inflation of 1.00% for the quintile 10.96% in quintile 2 and 0.81% in quintile 3.
While the quintiles 4 and 5 recorded variations of 0.77% and 0.70%, respectively. The variation rates of quintiles 1, 2 and 3 respond to a higher incidence of the group Food and Drinks Non-alcoholic.
Regarding the highest income strata, quintiles 4 and 5the rates of inflation reflect a less impact of the group Food and Drinks Non-Alcoholic and the incidence of price increases in the category Goods and Services Various.
