Inflation in Chile increased 0.4% in March and 3.7% year-on-year

inflation in Chili registered an increase of 0.4% in March and moderated year-on-year to 3.7% – unlike the 4.5% recorded in February -, highlighting the increases in education, housing and basic services, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported this Monday. ).

As detailed by the organization, the basket of Consumer Price Index (CPI) It recorded positive incidents in nine of the 13 divisions that make it up, while four presented negative incidents.

“Among the divisions with increases in their prices, education (5.4%) and housing and basic services (0.8%) stood out. The remaining divisions that had a positive influence (…) Of the divisions that recorded monthly decreases in their prices, food and non-alcoholic beverages stood out (-0.9%)“, reported the INE.

At a particular level, gasoline recorded a monthly increase of 3% and liquefied gas a monthly increase of 6%. For its part, university education registered an increase of 5.7%.

The Chilean economy recovered faster than expected after the pandemic, with a historic increase of 11.7% in 2021, but in 2022 it began to slow down and closed with a growth of 2.4%.

The economic aid provided by the Government to alleviate the impact of the crisis, as well as early withdrawals from pension funds, considerably boosted consumption and triggered inflation, to which were added the effects of the war in Ukraine.

After an aggressive rate increase to contain runaway inflation, which led the benchmark interest rate to remain at the all-time high of 11.25% for several months, the Chilean Central Bank began reducing interest rates last July.

Chile closed 2022 with an annual inflation of 12.8%, the highest since 1991, but it has been moderating this year and in October it registered a monthly variation of 0.5% and a two-month increase of 5%, the lowest since August 2021 .

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that Chilean GDP will expand by 1.8% this year, a forecast similar to that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the Chilean Government is a little more optimistic and projects a expansion of up to 2.5%.