Friday, May 13, 2005

According to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the annual rate of inflation in Ireland has begun to rise again after a period of decline. Annualised inflation is now running at 2.2%, up from 2.1% in March.

The figures are derived from the Consumer Price Index which is monitored by the CSO. Despite the increase, inflation remains significantly below the figure for recent years. Annualised inflation peaked at 5.1% in February 2003.

The major contributor to the rise was the cost of heating and housing with the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels group rising 10.6% in the past 12 months – with 2% of that rise in the last month alone.

When broken down more the section marked Energy Products showed a massive 5.3% rise in the past month alone.

This sharp rise in energy costs was offset somewhat by decreases (over the past 12 months) in the following groups:

• Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.5%)
• Clothing and Footwear (-2.8%)
• Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (-1.4%)
• Communications (-0.2%)
• Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-1.3%).

According to the CSO the Consumer Price Index is made up of over 55,000 prices consisting of 613 headings which cover over 1,000 different items.