Chile: The CPI for March rises less than expected and annual inflation moderates to 3.7%.

The Consumer Price Index increased by 0.4% last month. Increases in education and housing and basic services stood out.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.4% month-on-month in March, reported the National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Monday, a variation that was below market consensus. Thus, the twelve-month indicator moderated to 3.7%.

“The increases in education and housing and basic services stood out, along with the decrease in food and non-alcoholic beverages,” said the INE in a statement.

Nine of the thirteen divisions that make up the CPI basket contributed positively to the monthly variation of the index, while four showed negative contributions.

Among the divisions with price increases, education (5.4%) stood out with 0.227 percentage points (pp.), and housing and basic services (0.8%), with 0.137 pp. The remaining divisions contributed, together, with 0.258 pp.

Among the divisions that recorded monthly decreases in prices, food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.9%) stood out, with an incidence of -0.200 pp.

Analysts expected an increase of 0.6% in the March CPI according to market sources.

Meanwhile, exports once again showed red figures in March. According to data from the Central Bank, in the third month of the year, goods exports amounted to US$7.952 billion FOB, representing a 13.7% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Similarly, the trade balance also experienced a decline of 24.1%, accumulating US$1.770 billion during the month.

The decline in exports was accompanied by a decrease in shipments from the mining sector, which totaled US$4.704 billion in exports and recorded a year-on-year decrease of 10.5%.

In detail, copper totaled sales of US$4.087 billion, which is 5.5% lower than last year, with a more pronounced drop in cathode shipments (-8.0%) and a more moderate decline in concentrates (-1.4%).

On the other hand, lithium also saw a 61% decrease in its sales, recording revenues of US$247 million for the month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Gabriel Micillo

Gabriel is a certified public accountant graduated from UNNE (National University of the Northeast, Argentina) and a software developer, currently pursuing a Master's degree in Finance and Economics. With nearly 8 years of experience working for accounting firms and brokerage firms. Concurrently, he has produced economic and financial reports on the current state of regional economies for the clients of the establishments where he has worked. Additionally, he assisted colleagues like Ignacio Teson in the drafting and editing of articles on similar topics in English language.

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