The annual inflation rate in Costa Rica saw an uptick of 1.21% in March 2025, slightly down from February's rise of 1.24%. This uptick represents the sixth increase over the past twenty-one months. The upward momentum in prices was chiefly driven by sectors such as education, which increased by 3.27% compared to 3.18% in February, as well as restaurants and hotels, which grew by 2.21% from 2.02%. Housing and utilities also experienced an acceleration of 2.0%, up from 1.02%. Meanwhile, the decline in transport prices decelerated, moving to -1.1% from the previous -3.11%.
On the flip side, the inflation rate decelerated for food and beverages, with an increase of 5.21% compared to 6.76% earlier, and for health, slowing to 1.27% from 1.45%. Conversely, the decline in communication prices became steeper, moving to -3.67% from -3.59%. On a month-over-month comparison, consumer prices experienced a slight reduction of 0.32%, following a modest decrease of 0.01% in February.
