Headline inflation increased slightly from 4 percent in February to 4.2 percent in March 2026, remaining within the medium-term objective range of 3 – 6 percent, and was higher than the 2.8 percent recorded in March 2025. The marginal increase in inflation between February and March 2026 was mainly due to the acceleration in the rate of price change for most categories, notably Transport and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages. The 16 percent trimmed mean inflation increased from 4.6 percent to 4.8 percent, while inflation excluding administered prices increased from 5 percent to 5.3 percent, between February and March.
Inflation for domestic tradeables increased from 5.9 percent to 6.4 percent between February and March 2026, mainly reflecting faster price increases for food items. Similarly, inflation for imported tradeables increased from 6.4 percent to 6.6 percent over the same period, mainly due to an acceleration in the increase of food and vehicle prices. Overall, all tradeables inflation increased from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent between February and March 2026. Meanwhile, inflation for non-tradeables was unchanged at 0.6 percent in the same period.