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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

07 April 2022

Press Statement Consumer Price Index March 2022

Prices rose by 6.7% in the year to March 2022
  • The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 6.7% in the year to March 2022 up from an annual increase of 5.6% in the year to February 2022
  • This is the largest annual increase in the CPI since November 2000 when annual inflation stood at 7.0%
  • The divisions with the largest increases in the year to March were Transport (+18.7%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+17.4%) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+7.0%)
  • Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-1.0%), Clothing & Footwear (-0.8%) and Education (-0.8%) were the only divisions to show a decrease when compared with March 2021
  • Consumer prices rose by 1.9% in the month between February 2022 and March 2022 which is the largest monthly increase since the monthly CPI series started in 1997
  • The divisions with the largest increases in the month were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+5.0%) and Transport (+5.0%) while the largest decrease in the month was seen in Clothing & Footwear (-0.9%)

Go to release: Consumer Price Index March 2022

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (07 April 2022) published the Consumer Price Index March 2022.

Commenting on annual changes shown in the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician, said: “The latest publication for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that prices for consumer goods and services in March 2022 increased by 6.7% on average compared to March 2021. This follows an increase of 5.6% in the year to February 2022. Prices have been rising on an annual basis since April 2021, with annual inflation of 5% or more each month since October. The annual increase in the CPI to March 2022 is the largest observed since annual inflation stood at 7.0% in November 2000.

The most significant increases in the year were seen in Transport which was up 18.7%, with Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels up 17.4% and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco which rose by 7.0%. The annual change in Transport costs reflects a rise in the cost of diesel (+46.0%), petrol (+35.2%) and airfares (+69.2%) compared to March 2021. Increased energy costs are reflected in the yearly increase of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels with electricity up 22.4%, gas up 27.9%, liquid fuels (home heating oil) up 126.6% and solid fuels up 20.5% in the year.

Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-1.0%), Clothing & Footwear (-0.8%) and Education (-0.8%) were the only divisions to show a decrease when compared with March 2021.”

Commenting on monthly changes shown in the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician, continued: “Consumer prices in March increased by 1.9% in the month. The divisions with the largest monthly increases were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels and Transport, both up 5.0%. Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels rose due to an increase in the cost of home heating oil (+58.5%), solid fuels (+11.6%) and higher rents (+0.8%), while Transport prices increased due to higher prices for diesel (+17.3%), petrol (+10.2%) and airfares (+18.2%) compared to February 2022.

The largest monthly decrease was seen in Clothing & Footwear (-0.9%) which was due to clothing sales.

Commenting further Colin Cotter, added: “National Average Prices for selected CPI goods and services for February 2022 were also made available today by the CSO and show that diesel at €1.66 per litre and petrol at €1.75 per litre were up by 40.7 cent per litre (+32.5%) and 40.8 cent per litre (+30.3%) respectively between February 2021 and February 2022.

Looking at some staple items, the national average price for bread (large (800g) white sliced pan) was up 13.6 cent in the year to February 2022, while the same size brown sliced pan is up 20.6 cent in the year. Fresh fillet of cod per kg increased by 23.3 cent in the year while the average price for 2.5kg of potatoes decreased by 18.2 cent.

The national average price of a take-home 50cl can of lager at €2.18 was up 26.8 cent on average from February 2021 while a take home 50cl can of cider at €2.36 was up 13.5 cent.

In February 2022, the national average price of a pint of stout in licensed premises was €4.95 while a pint of lager was €5.33. As pubs were closed for the CPI collection period in February 2021, annual comparisons for the price of a pint are unavailable.”

The National Average Prices are compiled together with the CPI. The comprehensive list of items included in the National Average Prices and their monthly prices are available at: https://data.cso.ie/table/CPM12

 

Editor's Note:

The Consumer Price Index monthly series started in 1997. Pre 1997 the index was published quarterly. The increase of 1.9% in the month between February and March 2022 is the highest monthly change on record. The previous largest change for consecutive periods was in 1987 Quarter 1 when the change was also 1.9%.

As with all months, the majority of price collection for the CPI takes place at the start of the week containing the second Tuesday of each month up to and including the third Tuesday of each month. In March 2022 this was from 07 to 15 March. Changes to price levels after this date are not included in the March CPI calculations but will be captured in the April 2022 CPI price collection period which is from 11 to 19 April 2022.

The CSO published the following Information Note earlier this year to provide some background information on the CPI including how it is calculated: Information Note - The Consumer Price Index (CPI) Explained

For further information contact:

Colin Cotter, Consumer Price Index - (+353) 85 871 1635 or (+353) 21 453 5770

or email cpi@cso.ie

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