April 9, 2015

Consumer prices in March fell 0.22% over the previous month, which contrasted February’s 0.36% rise. According to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics (DGBAS), the reading mainly reflected decreases in the prices for nursery and nursing care, tour fees and taxi fess, partly due to the end of the lunar new year holidays. In addition, prices for clothing fell.



Annual consumer prices dropped 0.6% in March, which was below February’s 0.2% decrease. The decrease was above market analysts expectations of a 0.7% drop. As a result, annual average inflation fell from February’s 1.0% to 0.9% in March.



Core consumer prices, which strip out prices for electricity and fresh food, fell 0.81% in March over the previous month, contrasting February’s 0.84% rise. Annual core inflation fell from February’s 1.8% to 1.0% in March.

The government expects inflation to average 0.91% in 2015. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect inflation to average 0.8% in 2015, which is down 0.2 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2016, the panel sees inflation increasing to 1.4%.