translated from Spanish: Inflation reaches 3.6% in July, its highest level in five months

Inflation in Mexico was 0.66% in July and reached 3.62% in 12 months, mainly due to an increase in energy prices and government-authorized tariffs, the National Statistical Institute, INEGI, reported on Friday.
The figure is the highest since the 3.7% it reached in February and compares with the cumulative price increase of 3.33% in the moving year that ended last June.
In July 2019, 12-month inflation totaled 3.78%, inEGI was detailed.
Read: First month of new normal: inflation in June is 3.3%; increases gasoline, LP gas and chicken
The price of low-octane gasoline climbed 5.64% in July, while the high-octane gas price increased 5.26%. Domestic gas, meanwhile, rose 2.33% in the seventh month of the year.
By contrast, agricultural prices fell 0.03% per month, highlighting the 29.2% reduction in the price of serrano chili.
The price hike in July kept the indicator at the top of the Bank of Mexico’s inflation target (Banxico, central) of about 3% per annum.
Mexico began a gradual reopening of its economy in June, starting with the construction, mining and automotive sectors, after two months of suspending activities considered non-essential, by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Mexican economy, the second largest in Latin America after Brazil, collapsed 18.9% in the second quarter, due to near-total paralysis of productive activity in April and May.
By 2020, analysts surveyed by Banxico estimate that the fall in GDP could be 9.9% this year.
This depression in activity, which began before the health emergency, has led the Bank of Mexico to a cycle of monetary easing since August 2019 that already adds up to nine consecutive cuts to the reference rate, now at 5%.
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Original source in Spanish