In the first quarter of 2024, inflation was at its lowest level in eleven quarters (+1.1%, or 2.7 points less than in the previous quarter), according to the High Commission for Planning ( HCP).
This drop in prices would be attributed to a marked slowdown in the prices of food products, falling to +1.4% year-on-year, after having recorded +7.7% a quarter previously, and a smaller increase in product prices. non-food, returning to +0.9% year-on-year, compared to 1% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In detail, underlying inflation, which excludes prices subject to state intervention and products with volatile prices, would have shown a similar evolution, but at a lower rate compared to that of the overall inflation, standing at +2.5% in Q1-2024, compared to +3.7% a quarter earlier.
For their part, food prices would have been the main driver of the decline in inflation, among other things thanks to the reduction in the prices of fresh products with a contribution of -0.6 points, especially that of fresh vegetables and citrus fruits.
Excluding fresh products, the continued slowdown in prices, in particular of cereal-based products and edible oils, explained by the decline in their international prices, would also have supported the continued deceleration of inflation.
Concerning the usual increase in tobacco prices, in January, it would have been less than that recorded the previous year (+2.2%, instead of +5.4% a year earlier).
As for the prices of non-food products, this drop would have been more marked in manufactured products (+0.6%, compared to +1.6% in the previous quarter) and, to a lesser extent, in services (+1 .1%, after +1.2%).
