Annual inflation for March 2023 in Colombia was 13.34%

The National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) provided the data on the variation of the Consumer Price Index for March 2023.

According to the entity, inflation for the third month of the year was 1.05% (in March 2022 it was 1%), for the current year the data was 4.56% (in 2022 it was 4.56%) and in terms of the last 12 months the figure stood at 13.34%.

By March 2022, annual inflation had been 8.53%. And in February of this year, the data was 13.28%.

The large variations, which most affected inflation in March, occurred in the divisions of miscellaneous goods and services (those who do not fall into the categories that are formed to generate the CPI) with 1.62 percentage points (pp); in the household items and conservation with 1.47 pp, in the health with 1.41 pp, the transport with 1.37 pp, in restaurants and hotels with 1.34 pp; in alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 1.31 pp and in accommodation, water, electricity and gas con 1.01pp.

Below 1% were located food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.91pp), clothing and footwear (0.73pp), recreation and culture (0.66pp), education (0.23 pp) and Information and communication (0.04pp).

Regarding the contributions to the data, the divisions that made the most were those related to the household’s own spending: accommodation, water, electricity and gas (0.30 pp); food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.18 pp); transportation (0.18 pp); restaurants and hotels (0.14 pp); and miscellaneous goods and services (0.09 pp).

Regarding the data of 13.34%, corresponding to the annual variation, the highest contributions by divisions of expenses They were: food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.05 pp); accommodation, water, electricity and gas (2.43 pp); transportation (2.04 pp); restaurants and hotels (1.89 pp); and miscellaneous goods and services (0.80 pp).

“Food and non-alcoholic beverages have been the leading inflation item in the last 12 months“, assured Piedad Urdinola, the director of the Dane.

“Since January 2021 there has been a constant growth in inflation, but already in March there was a change in trend“added the official.

The last annual result higher than that registered in the third month of 2023 was in March 1999, when the figure marked 13.51%.

Popayan registered the highest monthly variation of the CPI in March with 1.43%. They followed ibagué (1.30%), Medellin (1.27%), Tunja (1.21%) and Valledupar (1.16%).

On the other hand, the capitals with the least variation were Cartagena (0.84%), Hunting (0.83%), Florence (0.76%), riohacha (0.75%) and cucuta (0.69%).

Bogota, for its part, it registered a figure of 1.04%, below the national level (1.05%).

Other major cities like Barranquilla and Cali they were above the general average, with 1.10% and 1.06%, respectively. While Bucaramanga registered a variation of 0.86%.

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