Inflation in Chile registered an increase of 1.1% in March, after the slight decrease in the previous month, and accumulated an advance of 11.1% in 12 months, as reported on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
“In the third month of the year, nine of the twelve divisions that make up the basket of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) contributed positive incidences in the monthly variation of the index and three presented negative incidences,” the agency said in its report.
Among the increases, education stood out, with an advance of 10.8%, because March is usually a month with high inflationary records driven by the start of the school year; and recreation and culture, with 2.2%.
In contrast, the Transportation category fell 0.7%.
At the product level, university and basic education, tourist packages, intercity buses and new cars stood out in the advances, according to the INE.
Chile has registered record inflation figures since mid-2021, caused by a rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to various savings withdrawals from pension funds and government aid, which led the Central Bank to take unprecedented measures and quickly withdraw the monetary stimulus.
The issuer raised the referential interest rate last October, called the Monetary Policy Rate (TPM), to 11.25%, its highest level since 2001, and has maintained it since then.
The Chilean economy grew a historic 11.7% in 2021 –after the sharp fall of 5.8% in 2020– and 2.4% during 2022, a percentage lower than initial estimates. The Central Bank estimates a contraction for this year of between -1.75% and -0.75%.