Clothing & footwear prices go up in March CPI

10 Apr '08

2 min read

Consumer Prices in March, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.9% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.7% in March of last year. As a result, the annual rate of inflation increased to 5.0%, up from 4.8% in February 2008.

The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose by 0.9% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.7%in March 2007. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, increased from 3.5% in February to 3.7% in March.

The most notable changes in the year were increases in Education (+5.9%) and Transport (+5.6%). There were decreases in Clothing & Footwear (-3.6%) and Furnishings.

The annual rate of inflation for Services was 5.7% in March, while Goods increased by 4.2% in the year. The most significant monthly price changes were increases in Transport (+2.5%), Clothing & Footwear (+1.7%).

The main factors contributing to the monthly change were as follows:
• Transport rose due to higher petrol and diesel prices, as well as an increase in airfares.
• Clothing & Footwear rose with higher prices for both clothing and footwear.

The CPI excluding tobacco index for March was up 0.9% in the month and up 5.0% in the year. The CPI excluding energy products index was up 0.9% since March and increased by 4.7% in the year. The CPI excluding mortgage interest increased by 1.0% in the month and rose by 3.8% in the year.

Clothing and Footwear:
Clothing & Footwear prices increased by 1.7% in the month and decreased by 3.6% in the year to March 2008. This compares to a decrease of 2.6% for the year to March 2007. In the month, clothing prices increased by 1.7%, while footwear prices increased by 1.5%.

In the month, price increases were recorded for garments (+1.9%), shoes & other footwear (+1.6%), dress hire & repair of clothing (+1.4%) and other articles of clothing (+0.6%).

Central Statistics Office Ireland

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