And the rise in fuel drove a sharp increase in consumer prices. In the first five months of 2025, consumer prices rose by 4.3%. Statistician Jaime Crespo spoke more about it.
Jaime Crespo, Statistician II
"Inflation was at 2.8% in May 2021 and then it rose sharply to a peak of 7.4% in mid 2022. Since then inflation generally trended downward throughout 2023 to 2025 however during the first 5 months in 2026, inflation went up and currently stands at 4.3% in May of this year. Turning to the graft on the right, the all items CPI increased from 103.1 in May 2021 to 124.8 in May 2026. This upward trend indicates that consumer prices have continued to rise over the past 5 years. The steepest increase occurred between 2021 and 2022 while from 2023 - 2026 prices continued to increase at a slower pace."
"For the first 5 months in 2026 when compared to the same period in 2025 the cost of goods and services purchased by households increased by 2% on average. This was mainly due to an increase in almost all of the major CPI categories."
"First we have the transport category with prices increasing by 3.5%, this was mainly due to a rise in the cost of all types of motor vehicle fuels. The price per gallon for regular went up by 7.1%, for premium, it went up by 2.2% and for diesel it went up by 11.1%."
"And lastly lets look at the housing, water electricity, gas and other fuels category with prices increasing by 1.5%. This was mainly due to a rise in the cost of electricity which was implemented at the start of the year."
Notably, consumer confidence went down 6.2% in May 2026.
