Inflation fell to 5.9 per cent in December giving an average of 5.6 per cent for the 12 months of 2000, figures released today by the Central statistics Office (CSO) show.
Inflation for 2000 peaked in November at 7 per cent. According to the CSO, 0.8 per cent of the monthly fall in December was due to the removal of the excise duty on tobacco from directly impacting on the monthly Consumer Price Index.
However the annual inflation rate of 5.6 per cent in 2000 was considerably higher than the 1999 year-end figure of 1.6 per cent.
House prices rose by 0.8 per cent in December, up 26.2 per cent for the year while food prices rose by 0.6 per cent in December, the CSO figures show.
Although fuel and light costs fell by 0.1 per cent in December, over 12 months they rose by 10.4 per cent.
In his Budget 2000, Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy forecast that inflation would fall to 4.5 per cent this year and to 2.5 per cent in 2003.
The ECB has set a medium-term upper limit for inflation of 2.0 per cent.
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