Monthly Inflation Note, August 2026

The BRH's monthly inflation note for August 2026 reports that monthly inflation accelerated to 1.6 percent after three months of slowing, compared with 0.9 percent in July. Year-on-year inflation kept falling, to 17.0 percent, 50 basis points below July. Over the first eleven months of fiscal 2026 cumulative inflation was 14.0 percent, compared with 26.3 percent a year earlier, and average monthly inflation was 1.20 percent, still above the Dominican Republic's 0.4 percent.

The transport index rose 9.6 percent over the month, 18.8 points faster than in July, and carried the acceleration. Education (4.5 percent) and leisure (1.7 percent) also quickened. Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 0.9 percent over the month and 17.6 percent over the year. Food, housing and utilities, and transport together make up 77.4 percent of monthly inflation and 80.1 percent of annual inflation.

The note attributes the acceleration mainly to the pump-price adjustment of August 10, 2026, which raised diesel by 10.0 percent and kerosene by 10.9 percent, and puts transport's contribution to monthly inflation at 44.74 percent. Core inflation slowed by 48 basis points to 1.1 percent over the month and to 15.4 percent year on year, below headline, which the BRH reads as a possibly transitory energy effect. Monthly inflation accelerated in every region, to 1.7 percent in the Metropolitan Area and 1.4 percent in the Nord. The BRH projects annual inflation near 16 percent over the next three months and monthly inflation of 1.4 percent in September, 1.3 percent in October and 1.2 percent in November 2026.