Hernán Somerville: March inflation could cause a break in expectations

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SANTIAGO.-  The president of the Association of Banks, Hernán Somerville, said today that the most important thing about the high inflation rate reported during March is that it could cause a break in inflation forecasts for the rest of the year. 

This morning, the National Statistics Institute announced that the CPI for March rose 0.8%, indicating an accumulated inflation total of 1.2% for the first trimester of this year.  Additionally, the 12-month variation reached 8.5%, a figure much higher than the target defined by the Central Bank.

Following the government announcement to issue aid to the poorest areas in the country due to the high levels of inflation, the president of the Bank Association expressed that “it is a very good idea and I hope that it is carried out well”. 

Somerville added that the most impoverished areas have been hit very hard “since the incidence (of inflation) there is much higher”.