The Índice General de Precios al Consumidor (IPC) in El Salvador registered a monthly decrease of 0.09% in November 2024, according to data published by the Banco Central de Reserva (BCR) and the Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (ONEC). With this variation, the general index reached 129.93 points, marking a slight reduction in its annual variation of -0.31% and an accumulated 0.45% so far this year.
Among the products that showed decreases in their costs were avocado, with a decrease of 0.06%, followed by güisquil and carrots, both with a reduction of 0.03%. Other foods such as green chili and watermelon also experienced price declines of 0.02% each. These declines contributed to the overall decrease in the index during the month.
However, some products and services registered increases. The cost of air travel rose 0.10%, while lawyer services showed an increase of 0.03%. As for food, tomatoes, lunches and tamales had slight increases of between 0.01% and 0.02%.
Annual inflation in November 2024 was 0.31%, a figure that represents a notable reduction of 2.41 percentage points from the same month last year, when it stood at 2.11%. This decline reflects a slowdown in price growth, driven mainly by declines in some commodities and moderation in other sectors.
The downward trend in the IPC could favor the economy of salvadoran households, especially in daily consumption products. However, increases in some services and essential foodstuffs point to challenges for certain sectors. Economic authorities will continue to monitor these variations to ensure stability and adopt the necessary policies to keep inflation under control.