According to Inegi, within core inflation, merchandise prices rose 0.70% and services 0.12%. While, within the non-core price index, the monthly prices of agricultural products increased 1.98%; energy and rates authorized by the government, meanwhile, decreased 2.43%.
LP gas continued to decline, now at a monthly rate of 14.46%
The price of LP gas fell 15.06% during the first half of August and this downward trend seems to be consolidating since, for the entire month of August, the price of LP gas fell 14.46%, compared to the prices of July . This behavior is largely due to the policies applied since the beginning of August by the Energy Regulatory Commission, which sets maximum prices, each week, at the price of energy.
Foods that increased the most in price
With respect to the increase in underlying inflation, a monthly variation of 0.67% for food, beverages and tobacco and for non-food merchandise of 0.63% stands out; Furthermore, both items presented annual inflation of 6.51% and 5.41%, respectively.
During August, within the food category, serrano chili (46.86%), avocado (12.06%), onion (14.95%), corn tortilla (1.24%), pasteurized milk (1.46%), apple (7.23%) and beef (0.92%) were among those with the highest price increases, in their monthly comparison.
On the other hand, the foods that fell the most in price, during August, with respect to the previous month, were: chicken (-0.76%), bananas (-3.55%), chayote (-11.63%), among others.
Market expectations are confirmed
Reuters previously consulted 19 analysts for their opinion on their inflation projections for the month of August . The average of these forecasts stood at 5.60% at an annual rate, which coincides with the 5.59% rate presented by Inegi this Thursday. With these data, inflation in August would be the lowest in five months, after, in March 2021, it stood at 4.67%. In addition, the annual inflation registered in August is lower than that of July, when it stood at 5.81%. It should be remembered that the target range of Banco del México (Banxico) of 3% +/- one percentage point.