Tunisia - The inflation rate remained unchanged at 7.5% in March, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) said in a note on consumer price index published on Friday.

This stability is mainly due to the fact that the rate of increase of food prices remained the same between March and February, i.e. 10.2% year-on-year, explains the INS.

On the other hand, the pace of price increases accelerated in the group 'Housing, water, gas & electricity' (4.3% in March compared with 3.8% in February), offset by a slowdown in the group 'Furniture, household equipment' (6.4% in March compared with 6.7% in February).

10.2% rise in food prices

In March 2024, food prices rose by 10.2% year-on-year. This increase was mainly due to a 35% rise in coffee powder prices, a 22.2% rise in edible oils, a 22% rise in sheepmeat prices, an 18% rise in condiments, a 17% rise in fresh vegetables, a 13.6% rise in beef prices and a 12.4% rise in fresh fish prices.

Prices for industrial goods rose by 7.2%, driven by a 10.1% increase in the price of clothing and a 9.7% rise in the price of household cleaning products.

Services prices rose by 5.6% year-on-year, mainly due to a 10.2% rise in restaurants, cafés and hotels, a 13.8% rise in financial services and a 9.3% rise in health services.

The core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) remained unchanged at 7%. The prices of unregulated products increased by 8.3% year-on-year. Prices of regulated products went up by 4.8%. Unregulated food rose by 11.2%, compared to 3.6% for regulated food.

The 'industrial goods' and 'services' groups were the main contributors to overall inflation, with 2.7% and 1.9% respectively.

On the other hand, the 'Free non-food' and 'Free food' groups made the largest contributions to inflation, at 3.7% and 2.7% respectively. The 'Regulated food' group made the smallest contribution, at 0.1%.

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