Annualized inflation in Peru stood at 8.40% in March, a slight deceleration despite the fact that consumer prices in the Andean country increased that month compared to February, said on Saturday the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI). Annualized inflation in February was 8.65%.
He Consumer Price Index of Metropolitan Lima (IPC), reference for inflation in Peru, rose 1.25% in March, above the 0.29% of the previous month.
The inflation in march It was driven by a 4.76% rebound in education prices after the return to school, and the 2.32% rise in food and beverages, the item with the highest weighting in the index, explained the local statistics institute.
The statistical entity added that accumulated inflation in the first three months of the year was 1.78%.
At the beginning of March, the Peruvian Central Bank (BCRP) left its benchmark interest rate by 7.75%, after having been raising the cost of money periodically since the second half of 2021 to quell inflation.
The bank expects inflation to moderate and return to its target range of between 1% and 3% per year in the fourth quarter of the year, mainly due to a projected drop in international food and energy prices.
Peru, the second largest copper producer in the world, recorded inflation of 8.46% in 2022, the highest annual measurement in more than a quarter of a century, according to official data.
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