ANNUAL INFLATION RATES in Ireland are below 2% for the first time in over three years.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is Ireland’s official measure of inflation.
Around 50,000 prices are collected for the CPI from a basket of goods containing 612 items which aims to reflect what average households arespending their money on.
Figures released today by the Central Statistics Office(CSO) show that the CPI rose by 1.7% between August 2023 and August 2024.
This is down from an annual increase of 2.2% in the 12 months to July 2024 and the first time since June 2021 that the CPI increase has been below 2%.
Excluding energy and unprocessed food, the CPI went up by 2.9% in the 12 months to August 2024.
The 612 items in the CPI can be broken down into 12 divisions.
The largest increases in these divisions in the year to August were seen in Restaurants & Hotels, where prices rose …