At a monthly rate, headline inflation grew 0.38% compared to November. And the underlying did so at a rate of 0.65%.
Within the underlying index, the prices of merchandise rose 0.74% at the monthly rate and services, 0.53%. The increase in prices such as packaged soft drinks, housing, food merchandise, among others, caused the rebound in December.
Gas and gasoline drop
Non-core inflation, for its part, fell 0.40% at the monthly rate and increased 6.27% at the annual rate. And, within this index, the prices of agricultural products grew 0.50% and those of energy and tariffs authorized by the government fell 1.15% at a monthly rate.
The drop in energy prices, as expected by specialists previously consulted by Reuters, helped cushion the rise in inflation in December; since they fell 1.71% at a monthly rate.
Domestic LP gas, for example, had a decline of 4.91% at the monthly rate, low-octane gasoline fell 1.06% and the price of domestic natural gas decreased 8.63% compared to November.
The sauces are more expensive
Serrano chili increased 39.65% in December, at a monthly rate, but tomato (3.86%) and ‘other fresh chili peppers’ (14.24%) also increased. Although these increases were balanced by a reduction of 12.61% in the price of tomato and 18.32% in that of onion.
