Colombia: Inflation climbs to over-seven-year-high in January

In January, consumer prices in Colombia rose 1.29% over the previous month, which came in above the 0.62% price increase registered in December. January’s result mainly reflected an increase in prices of food, which more than offset a softer increase in prices for education.

Inflation increased from December’s 6.8% to 7.5% in January, thus reaching its highest level since December 2008. As a result, inflation moved further above the Central Bank’s tolerance margin of plus/minus 1.0 percentage point around its 3.0% target.

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile items such as fresh food and fuels, increased in January by 0.82% month-on-month (December: +0.64% mom). Finally, core inflation rose from December’s 5.2% to 5.6% in January.

Panelists participating in the LatinFocus Consensus Forecast expect that inflation will close 2016 at 5.0%, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2017, the panel expects inflation to end the year at 3.6%.