Commodity prices are expected to fall this year, the central bank, the Monetary Authority of Maldives (MMA), has forecast.
According to the MMA’s Quarterly Economic Bulletin, inflation stood at 3.9 percent in the first quarter of this year. However, it is anticipated that inflation will start to decline from the second quarter of this year and fall to 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter.
The MMA had earlier predicted inflation to reach 5.4 percent by the end of the year.
Despite the expected decrease in inflation, MMA acknowledges the rise in commodity prices in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of last year following the GST hike from six percent to eight percent. In this regard, food prices rose 7.8 percent while transportation prices 8.6 percent.
