The escalation of prices in Mexico begins to give a break to the pockets of the workers.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) placed inflation in Mexico at 7.12% at the end of the first half of March, according to data from the National Consumer Price Index released this Thursday.
This is the fourth fortnight with price decreases after reaching its highest level in August 2022.
This data has exceeded all analysts' expectations.
According to the Citibanamex expectations survey, specialists expected an interest rate of 7.26%, although it is still well above the Bank of Mexico's targets.
It was the reduction in agricultural and energy prices that allowed this slowdown to take place in the month of March.
However, core inflation, which does not take fresh food or energy into account due to their volatility and which determines the trajectory of general inflation, remains in the range, increasing 0.30% at a fortnightly rate and fixing at 8.15% at an annual rate.
Within the core index, merchandise prices increased 10.26%, while services increased 5.68%.
For non-core inflation, the annual rate was 4.15% in the first fifteen days of March.
Within its components, agricultural products became more expensive by 8.11%, while energy and government-authorized tariffs rose 1.05%.
There are pressures within the services subcomponent, with a fortnightly price increase of 0.35%, above the average fortnightly inflation for this component of 0.22% in the previous 10 years.
Gabriela Siller, Grupo Base's director of economic analysis, indicates that this is the highest level since the second half of February 2003. "Although there is less pressure on underlying inflation due to merchandise prices, pressures on prices of services”, he indicates in his analysis.
The products and services that became more expensive in the last fortnight were air transport, with an increase of 17.96%, lemon, lemon with 15.29%, packaged tourist services, with an increase of 4.86% , and the corn tortilla, the staple food of Mexicans, recorded a rise of 0.70%.
In contrast, the products that registered a drop in their prices were domestic LP gas, with 2.43%, tomato with a drop of 4.75%, nopales with a decrease of 14.40%, and eggs, which had presented considerable increases, this fortnight it fell 1.15% in its price.
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