The average variation in the Consumer Price Index over the previous twelve months stood at 4.3% in August, 0.7 percentage points below the figure registered in July. Data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) confirms the downward trend in the country’s inflation rate, which stood at 6.8% in 2008 – 2.4 percentage points higher than the rate registered in 2007.

Some projections indicate that the inflation rate in Cape Verde will go down to between three and five percent in 2009 as a result of the world economic crisis. This decrease is due to the fact that the inflation rate in Europe has seen an accentuated drop, which could influence Cape Verde, given the fact that the archipelago is closely linked, in economic terms, to the continent as a result of the fixed exchange rate between the Cape Verdean escudo and the euro.

According to information from the INE, the homologous variation rate stood at -0.6% in August, with the most expressive drops in prices occurring in the categories of Transportation (-8.2%), Leisure, Recreation and Culture (-7.3%), Housing Rent, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels (-2.5%) and Clothing and Footwear (-1%).

On the opposite end of the spectrum were Miscellaneous Goods and Services (+10.9%), Health Care (+6.8%), Domestic Equipment and Home Maintenance (+5.9%) and Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (+2.4%).