Official: Sharp increase in prices in April
Annual inflation at 4.1%
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices increased by 2.3 percent in April compared to March, the National Statistics Office said today.
"This primarily reflected an increase of 10.9 per cent in the Restaurants and Hotels Index, mainly due to seasonal price rises in hotel rates," the NSO said.
It also reported a 3.2 percent increase in the Education Index due to higher school and private tuition fees. S
The Clothing and Footwear Index was up 2.8 percent, and the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other
Fuels Index by 1.2 percent.
An increase in the prices of diesel and kerosene caused the Transport Index to shift up by 0.6 per cent.
However the NSO said the Health Index decreased by 0.8 percent due to price reductions in hospital services and the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index dropped by 0.7 per cent, mainly on account of lower-priced vegetables.
In April, the twelve-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 1.9 percent, whereas the annual rate stood at 4.1 per cent. A year ago inflation was just 1.1 percent.