Economy / General

Consumer price inflation down in December despite higher food prices

December Consumer Price Index

Consumer price inflation surprised marginally; we were expecting a 3% y/y print, while inflation rose 3.1% in December from 3.2% in November. Food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing utilities as well as miscellaneous goods and services were the main contributors to the December print.

CPI for December 2020

Consumer price inflation increased by 3.1% year-on-year as at the end of December 2020, which was marginally lower than the 3.2% year-on-year increase from the previous month. For the 2020 calendar year inflation averaged 3.3% which was 0.8% lower than the 4.1% average in 2019.

The good news … and the bad news

The GDP numbers are much better than expected. In fact, the 66% quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted, annualised figure is better than even the best industry expectation.