Luanda — The National Consumer Price Index (IPCN) recorded a slight slowdown of 0.04 percentage points, standing at 2.54 percent, last March, against 2.58% observed in February this year.

According to the monthly bulletin on price changes from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), to which ANGOP had access Sunday, in March, prices grew less compared to the month of February, which represents negative marginal inflation.

According to INE data, since January 2023, there has been, for the first time, the existence of an inflection point in the growing price trend.

In the period under analysis, the province of Luanda maintained a weight of around 63% of the IPCN basket, recording a monthly inflation rate of 3.22%, against 3.45% in the previous month, which represents a decrease of 0 .23 percentage points.

According to INE, the slowdown in the pace of price growth, observed last March, was due, among several factors, to the stabilization of the foreign exchange market, which occurred in the first three months of this year.

In addition, it is worth pointing out the fact that the national currency recorded an accumulated depreciation of just 0.46% against the US dollar, as a result of the regularization of the currency supply, as well as the increase in domestic production of food goods, supported by public policies to promote agricultural credit.

The provision of a sovereign guarantee for financing operations to the private sector, as well as the consolidation of public accounts, by recording a reduction in its fiscal deficit during the first quarter of the current year, also helped to slow down prices.

As a result, INE says, it is expected that, from the month of July this year, year-on-year inflation will begin to decrease.

On the other hand, compared to March 2023, the IPCN recorded an increase of 2.02 percentage points, reaching 26.09% in March this year, against 24.07% last year.

INE justifies this increase by the fact that in the first five months of last year there were "very low" monthly inflation rates, with an average of 0.89%.