Photo: Deposit Photos

By KELIN DILLON

Mexico’s National Consumer Price Index (INPC) – which registers inflation across the country – hit 8.53 percent during the first two weeks of October, a trend likely due to drops in gas prices and national costs associated with inflation-affected products like potatoes, onions and avocados.

This is Mexico’s third report in a row of slowing inflation, said the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), and the lowest inflation rate experienced since the second half of July 2022, when inflation was recorded at 8.14 percent.

October’s second-half INCP was also .7 percentage points below Citibanamex’s estimated annual inflation rate of 8.6 percent. 

However, the underlying price index – which measures inflation after removing products with high pricing volatility from the equation – is still on the rise, reaching 8.39 percent in the first two weeks of October. This is the highest the underlying price index has reached since the end of August 2000 when it registered at 8.68 percent.

Meanwhile, the Price Index of the Minimum Consumption Basket (IPCCM) increased .43 percent across the course of the past two weeks.

According to the Inegi, products that stood out for high rates of inflation include electricity, which grew by 17.46 percent, tomatoes, which grew by 9.31 percent, and restaurants, which grew by .51 percent.