Peru’s Consumer Price Index registered an increase of 0.55 percent in April, bringing the country’s inflation to 2.66 percent in the first four months of 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) reported today.
The institution specified in its technical report “Variation of the economy’s price indicators” that in the case of Metropolitan Lima, there was an increase of 0.56 percent, registering an accumulated variation of 2.35 percent in January-April.
Meanwhile, the annual rate, corresponding to the May 2022-April 2023 period, showed a variation of 8.04 percent for the national indicator and 7.97 percent for Metropolitan Lima.
Referring to the 0.55 percent variation at the national level in April, INEI pointed out that it was partly due to “a higher growth than the national average” of two divisions, food, and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.22 percent, and restaurants and hotels at 0.81 percent.
In the case of food and non-alcoholic beverages, there was an increase in the cost of milk, cheese, and eggs (6.3 percent), and of fruits such as blueberries (57.9 percent), strawberries (24.1 percent), apples (7.9 percent), pineapple (5.9 percent) and others.
There was also an increase in fish such as mullet (12.7 percent), horse mackerel (8.5 percent), and mackerel (6.7 percent), while the same happened with meat due to the contribution of eviscerated chicken (0.6 percent) and its cuts, and eviscerated chicken (1.3 percent).
Another sector that registered an increase was direct goods and services by 0.43 percent, mainly due to price increases in non-electronic appliances, personal care items and products by 0.4 percent, and hairdressing salons and beauty establishments by 0.5 percent.
Transportation increased by 0.17 percent due to price increases in passenger transportation by air by 3.2 percent and road by 0.2 percent.
However, vehicle fuels such as diesel decreased by 4.3 percent, vehicle liquefied petroleum gas by 3.5 percent, and gasohol by 1.2 percent.
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels were the only prices that decreased (0.36 percent), mainly because all cities’ residential electricity rates decreased (0.8 percent).
Household fuel costs also decreased, including domestic propane gas (1.5 percent) and natural gas for housing (2.6 percent).
It is worth mentioning that consumer prices increased in 20 cities in April alone, with the highest variations in Trujillo (1.31 percent), Piura (1.18 percent), and Chimbote (1.04 percent), located in the northern coast of the country.