Monthly Inflation Note, May 2020
Summary: The Bank of the Republic of Haiti's monthly note on inflation for May 2020. It reads the consumer price index published by IHSI and adds the central bank's own analysis: headline inflation month on month and year on year, movement in the main consumption functions, inflation broken down by whether goods are imported or locally produced and by region of the country, core inflation, the factors the bank holds responsible for the month's movement, and its inflation forecast.
Key Findings
- Annual inflation reached 23.4 percent in May 2020 after 22.4 percent in March 2020, while monthly inflation rose by 30 basis points to 2.3 percent.
- BRH notes that monthly inflation averaged 1.8 percent from October 2019 to May 2020 in a difficult socio-economic context and after Haiti's first confirmed Covid-19 cases on March 19, 2020.
- Food and non-alcoholic beverages represented 48.5 percent of the consumption basket and contributed 56.47 percent of monthly inflation.
- Imported-product inflation rose by 80 basis points to 24.8 percent, while local-product inflation rose by one percentage point to 22.5 percent.
- BRH linked monthly inflation to gourde depreciation, weak local supply, lower exports and production problems related to rainfall.
How to cite
Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), Monthly Inflation Note, May 2020, https://www.brh.ht/wp-content/uploads/note_inflat0520.pdf