CSO: Inflation rate 0.8% for February

THE inflation rate, the rating that measures the changes in prices for all items, for February 2024 over February 2023, was 0.8 per cent, according to the Central Statistical Office’s (CSO) Consumer Price Index, released on March 18.

The inflation rate represented an increase from 0.3 per cent recorded in the last consumer price index, for January 2024/January 2023.

The inflation rate for the comparative period, February 2023/February 2022, was 7.6 per cent.

The all items index for February showed an increase of 0.1 per cent above the index for January, the CSO added.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages went up from 147.4 price points in January to 147.9 in February, reflecting a 0.3 per cent increase.

Increases in the prices of fish, cucumber, cabbage, white flour, table margarine, grapes, fresh whole chicken, eddoes and melongene contributed to the increase but reduction in the prices of tomatoes, Irish potatoes, oranges, soya bean oil, celery, chive, mixed fresh seasoning, plantains, pumpkin and dasheen offset the overall increase.

The CSO’s latest data on real GDP indicated a three per cent increase year-on-year during the first quarter of last year.

Trinidad and Tobago showed steady economic recovery over the first nine months of last year, led by the non-energy sector’s continued growth.

In the second half of 2023, domestic inflation slowed and labour market conditions improved steadily as headline inflation went down from four per cent in July to 0.7 per cent in December.