Producer Price Inflation falls to 43.7 %

It said the monthly producer inflation in March stood at 1.7 per cent.

Data provided by the GSS said industry recorded the highest rate of inflation in March at 43.3 per cent compared with the 57.9 per cent recorded in February.

The GSS said the construc­tion sector recorded year-on-year inflation rate of 18.8 per cent from 21.1 per cent of the figure recorded in February.

It said the PPI for the services sector rose to 18.0 per cent in March from 13.4 per cent in February.

“For the sub-sectors, trans­portation and storage recorded the highest year-on-year PPI of 59.3 per cent. Electricity and gas at 57.5 per cent, accommodation and food services recorded 47.0 per cent, with PPI higher than the national average producer inflation of 43.7 per cent,” the GSS said.

The data said the PPI for the mining support service activities rose to 56.9 per cent in March from 52.0 per cent in February, PPI for mining of metal ores fell to 52.5 per cent in March from 70.0 per cent in February, and PPI for the extraction of crude oil and natural gas fell to 15.5 in March from 44.1 per cent in February.

The GSS said the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical prod­ucts drove the PPI rate in the manufacturing sector with a rate of 98.6 per cent in March from 108.7 per cent in February, and the manufacture of coke and refined products at the rate of 94.0 per cent.

For the construction sector, the data said construction of buildings recorded PPI rate of 41.5 per cent in March from 49.7 per cent in February, and civil en­gineering recorded PPI of 10.6 in March from 11.0 per cent in Feb­ruary, while PPI for specialised construction activities rose to 6.4 in March from 6.0 in February.

The GSS said in the services sector, the PPI for the infor­mation service activities rose to 177.6 per cent in March from 111.6 per cent in February.