The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) registered a monthly variation of 0.27% in March of this year and with this result, interannual inflation stood at 4.63%, remaining within the target range of 4.0% ± 1.0%.
The monetary authority indicated that monthly underlying inflation presented a variation of 0.23%, which contributed to the interannual rate falling for the second consecutive month until it stood at 4.58%, also remaining within the target range established by the Central Bank.
This indicator allows us to extract clearer signals for the conduct of monetary policy, because it excludes some items that normally do not respond to the liquidity conditions in the economy, such as foods with great variability in their prices, fuels and services with regulated prices such as electricity rates, transportation, as well as alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
The bank highlighted that to estimate the consumer price index, it surveys a sample of 11,168 establishments in all the provinces of the national territory in the National Consumer Price Survey. Through this rigorous process that incorporates the best practices of survey collection and processing, more than 200,000 price quotes are collected for the 364 items that make up the basket of goods and services representative of the consumption expenses of Dominican families.
This statistical operation has the continuous technical support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), who consider the country as a benchmark in the region.
Variation by groups
The Central Bank stated that, when analyzing the results of the monthly variation of the general CPI corresponding to March 2026, it is observed that the groups with the greatest impact on the result of the index were Transportation, Restaurants and Hotels, Miscellaneous Goods and Services, Housing and Health. In contrast, the groups Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Communications recorded negative variationswhich contributed to the month’s inflation not being of greater magnitude.
Likewise, it reported that the group with the greatest contribution to inflation in March was Transportation, which exhibited a variation of 0.99%, derived from the adjustments ordered by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs (MICM) in regular and premium gasoline and diesel, as a consequence of the increase in oil in international markets, in addition to the price increases verified in air ticket rates.
In relation to the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group, which registered a variation of -0.15%, its behavior is mainly attributed to the normalization of food supply conditions after the climatic phenomena that occurred at the end of last year.
Price reductions were observed in highly weighted products in the basket such as bananas and fresh chicken, as well as in sweet potatoes, green bananas, potatoes, among others, which were not compensated by the price increases verified in food goods such as chili peppers, regular beef, avocados, sour lemons, cod, cassava, oranges, rice and onions.
Likewise, the BCRD reports that the Communications CPI exhibited a variation rate of -0.2% due to price reductions in combined telecommunications services, specifically those related to online data transmission (streaming).
Regarding the inflation rate of 0.53% reflected in the Restaurants and Hotels group, it is due to price increases in food services prepared outside the home, highlighting the dish of the day, the food service with accompaniments and the chicken service.
The CPI for Miscellaneous Goods and Services registered a variation of 0.38%, as a result of the increase in the prices of personal care services and health insurance. Likewise, the Housing group exhibited a rate of 0.24%, mainly supported by the increase in rental services, while the Health group presented a growth of 0.54%, explained by increases in some medications and medical consultations.
Tradable and non-tradable goods
The BCRD reports that the CPI for tradable goods showed a rate of 0.40% in March 2026, as a result of price increases in regular and premium gasoline and diesel, in addition to increases in airfare. In relation to the index of non-tradable goods and services, it reported an inflation of 0.15%.
Incidence by geographic regions
Inflation by geographic regions in the month of March compared to February 2026 shows that the Ozama region, which includes the National District and the Santo Domingo province, reached a variation of 0.17%, the North or Cibao region of 0.41%, the East region of 0.37% and the South region of 0.19%.
The rates observed in the Ozama and South regions respond to a greater incidence of reductions reflected in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages group. While the most pronounced variations in the North and East regions responded to a greater impact of the increases verified in the Transportation, Housing and Miscellaneous Goods and Services groups.
Information by quintiles
The BCRD indicates that the results of the price indices by socioeconomic strata showed inflation rates of 0.13% for quintile 1, 0.16% in quintile 2 and 0.18% in quintile 3. Quintiles 4 and 5 presented variations of 0.19% and 0.41%, respectively. The more pronounced rate presented in quintile 5 is attributed to a greater contribution from the increases registered in the Transportation group, driven mainly by airfare rates and regular and premium gasoline.
