Again, the inflation it accelerated in the month of April, registering the highest level since January 2001, according to data released this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
In the fourth month of the year, the National consumer price index (INPC) showed an increase of 0.54%, with which at an annual rate inflation reached a level of 7.68 percent.
This is its third record accelerating in a row, and 14 months in a row that inflation is above the Bank of Mexico’s (Banxico) target of 3% +/-1 percentage point.
Although prices continued to rise, the April figure was a surprise for the market which, given the current situation, expected a rate of . 7.72 percent.
Inflation has been the issue that has lit red lights around the world, due to the high levels it has reached and that has been further pressured by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For this reason, last week the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented the Package Against Inflation and Famine (PACIC), which contains 16 measures to face high levels of inflation, whose duration will be six months.
However, while the PACIC may help deal with rising prices, analysts do not expect it to have a significant impact, unlike the government’s discourse.
Without truce
The Inegi report shows that the increases in products and services were generalized, with a greater weight from the underlying index – in which it pays attention Banxico– with an annual variation of 7.22 percent.
Within this, the category of merchandise showed an average price increase of 9.33%, mainly explained by the 10.88% increase in food, beverages and tobacco.
In the case of services, the inflation it was 4.83 percent.
Non-core inflation, on the other hand, showed an annual rate of 9.07 percent. In this item, agricultural products were the ones that showed the greatest increases, with 14.36 percent.