Within the goods component, food cost advanced 4.7 percent in December, following a 3.5 percent rise in November and prices of non-food products rose 4.1 percent, after a 4.2 percent gain in the previous month. Also, services inflation picked up to 3.9 percent in December from 3.8 percent in November.
Annual core inflation rate climbed to 3.7 percent in December from 3.4 percent in the previous month. It was the highest rate since May 2017.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased 0.8 percent in December, compared with a 0.5 percent gain in November and also beating market consensus of 0.7 percent. Upward pressure came from all main categories: food (1.7 percent vs 1 percent): services (0.4 percent vs unchanged); and non-food products (0.2 percent vs 0.4 percent).
