Attachments
1.1 ANNUAL INFLATION
The Annual Headline Inflation for the year ending February 2016 stabilised at 7.7 per cent, the same rate (revised) that was recorded for the year ended January 2016.
The drivers for the Annual Headline Inflation were the Annual Core Inflation which increased to 7.6 per cent for the year ending February 2016, compared to the 7.1 per cent recorded for the year ended January 2016. The increase in the Annual Core Inflation was largely due to the rise in the annual services inflation to 6.9 per cent for the year ending February 2016 compared to the 5.8 per cent recorded for the year ended January, 2016. The other driver was the Annual Energy, Fuel and Utilities (EFU) Inflation that rose to 8.7 per cent for the year ending February 2016, compared to the 7.8 per cent recorded in January 2016. This was mainly due to increased water charges registered in the month of February 2016 compared to those that were registered during the month of February 2015, which is a base effect.
The rise in Annual Core and EFU Inflation was, however, offset by a decline in the Annual Food Crops Inflation that slowed to 7.3 per cent for the year ending February 2016 compared to the 12.4 per cent registered during the year ended January 2016.
The decrease in Food crops inflation is attributed to a decline in annual Vegetables inflation that dropped to 7.4 per cent for the year ending February 2016, compared to 16.4 per cent that was recorded for January 2016.