The CPI falls to 3.1% at the end of 2023 and food prices moderate their growth to 7.3%

He Consumer price index (IPC) remained There are no changes in December compared to the previous month And reduced the interannual interest rate by one tenth to 3.1%as food prices moderated their growth by almost two points to 7.3%, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco softened their year-on-year growth by almost four points to 3.7%.

According to final data of the CPI, published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), confirming the progress made at the end of last month, the evolution of food prices is due to cheaper legumes and vegetables and the prices of milk, eggs, cheese, bread, cereals and meat. They rose less in December 2023 than in the same month of 2022.

On the other hand, the transport sector increased its interannual rate by almost four points, to 3.9%, reflecting the fact that the fuel price for passenger cars did not fall as much in December 2023 as in the same month of 2022.

With the moderation of the interannual interest rate in December to 3.1%, inflation has followed two consecutive months of declines and has fallen to the lowest level since August last year, when it stood at 2.6%.

Core inflation (excluding unprocessed food or energy products) fell seven-tenths to 3.8% in December, a rate seven-tenths higher than the headline CPI and the lowest since March 2022, when inflation was 3.4%.

In monthly terms (December 2023 compared to November of the same year), the CPI did not experience any variation after increasing the prices of tourist packages and electricity and reducing the prices of fuel, clothing and footwear due to the winter sales campaign.

In the last month of 2023, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index (IPCA) placed its interannual interest rate at 3.3%, the same as in the previous month. In turn, the monthly variation of the IPCA was 0.0%.