THE inflation rate, which is a measure of the percentage change in the all items index for the month of May 2024/May 2023, was calculated at 0.9 per cent.

The statistic comes from the Central Statistical Office (CSO’s) consumer price index for May 2024.

The inflation rate for the period represented an increase from April 2024/April 2023, which was calculated at 0.5 per cent.

It was still a far cry from the corresponding period, May 2023/May 2022, which stood at 5.7 per cent.

The all items index, which is calculated from prices collected for May 2024, was 123.6. This represented an increase of 0.2 per cent over April 2024.

The index for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased from 146.1 in April to 147.4 in May, an increase of 0.9 per cent.

The CSO report said general upward movement in the prices of white flour, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, pumpkin, parboiled rice, carrots, oranges, melongene and cabbage contributed to the overall price increase.

But the increase was offset by a general decrease in the prices of fresh whole chicken, soya bean oil, fresh carite, table margarine, ochroes, fresh kingfish, onions, plantains, cornflakes and teabags.

Data also showed decreases in alcoholic beverages and tobacco by 0.1 per cent, and clothing and footwear by 0.3 per cent. Health also increased by 0.1 per cent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its country report earlier this month, said, for the first time in a decade, Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing a gradual and sustained economic recovery. The IMF said headline inflation went down to 0.3 per cent in January, after peaking at 8.7 per cent at the end of 2022.

The IMF report said the reduction was mainly because of declining food and imported goods inflation.

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