Inflation drops annually by 1.4% in first quarter of 2021

Inflation in Cyprus fell by 1.4% in the first quarter of this year compared with the first quarter of 2020, data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (CyStat) on Monday show.

In particular, in March 2021, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 1.29 units and reached 100.61 units compared to 99.32 units in February 2021. In March 2021, the inflation decreased by 0.7%.

For the period January - March 2021, the CPI decreased by 1.4% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, CyStat says.

Compared to March 2020, the largest changes were observed in the categories Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (-4.7%) and Communication (-3.9%).
 
In comparison to the CPI of the previous month, the largest change was noted in Clothing and Footwear (10.7%).
 
For the period January – March 2021, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the largest changes were recorded in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (-4.7%), Communication (-3.9%) and Food and non-Alcoholic Beverages (-3.8%). 
 
According to CyStat`s analysis of the effects in units, compared to the Index of March 2020, the categories Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, (-0.59) and Food and non-Alcoholic Beverages (-0.42) had the largest negative effect on the change of the CPI, while positive effect was noted in Transport (0.32).
 
The categories Clothing and Footwear (0.69) and Transport (0.41) had the largest effect on the change of the CPI compared to the previous month.
 
Electricity (-0.66) and fresh vegetables (-0.25) had the most notable negative effect on the change of the CPI of March 2021 compared to March 2020.
 
At the same time, clothing (0.49) and petroleum products (0.35) had the largest effect on the change of the CPI of March 2021 compared to the previous month.