The Department of Commerce’s Office of Trade Policy and Strategy (OFC) reported that the general consumer price index (CPI), or the inflation rate, was 104.79 in March, up 5.73% from the same period last year. This is the highest increase in 13 years and brings the CPI for the first quarter of this year to an average of 4.75%.
The core CPI was 102.43 in March 2022, up 2.00% from the same period last year and up 0.23% from February 2022. This is an average of 1.43%.
“Inflation rate rose 5.73% in March as a result of higher prices of domestic goods and services. Both energy prices imported raw materials as well as increased transportation costs. This was partly due to US and allied sanctions against Russia, affecting the economies of many countries around the world especially developing countries, which have been severely affected because of fragile economies.”
The director of the NPO said.
For the month of March, prices of major products and services increased for a total of 178 items compared to February.
At the same time, the NPO revised its projection for headline inflation in 2022 from 0.7% to 2.4% to between 4% and 5%, or an annual average of 4.5%, the highest in 13 years.
The manufacturing producer price index was 112.0 in March 2022 compared with March 2021, an increase of 11.4% from a year earlier.
Breaking down the producer price index by production processes, it was found that the index for finished products increased by 5.4%, the index for semi-finished products increased by 19.4%, and the index for raw materials increased by 25.5%, with the main products in the supply chain whose prices increased in line with raw materials.
Industrial products recorded a 10.4% increase, mainly due to higher raw material prices in line with world market prices and other production costs. Mining products recorded an increase of 69.1%, and agricultural and fishery products rose by 4.3%.