The inflation rate in the month of January dropped 0.9 percentage points in January in relation to the previous month, standing at 3.1% as compared to January 2007.

The figure, which seems to indicate a continued slowdown in the inflation rate in the country that began in the last two months of 2007, was the first to be calculated using the National Statistics Institute’s new Consumer Price Index methodology, which was presented last Friday in Praia.

The monthly variation rate between December 2007 and January of this year was 0.6%, while the average monthly inflation rate over the past twelve months stood at 4.5%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points over the same figure last month.

The categories showing the highest levels of inflation were Clothing and Footwear (11.5%), Food Products and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (5.6%) and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (4.3%).

On the other hand, the categories Accessories, Domestic Equipment and Housing Maintenance and Leisure, Recreation and Culture both showed negative inflation (-3.6% in both cases).

Source: A Semana