Chile’s Inflation Rises 0.6% in August, Reaching 4.1% Year on Year

Chile’s consumer prices rose 0.6% in August, twice the increase analysts had expected, according to the country’s National Statistics Institute. Annual inflation reached 4.1%, while inflation accumulated during 2026 stood at 3.6%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages, along with transport, drove the monthly increase. Food prices rose 1.4%, with meat up 2.7% and vegetables, legumes and tubers increasing 5.5%. Transport prices climbed 1.6%, led by a 24.6% rise in air passenger fares. Fuel for personal vehicles increased 0.9%.

Nine of the 13 divisions in the consumer price index contributed positively to the monthly result, while three made negative contributions and one had no impact. Information and communications fell 0.3%, including declines of 1.9% for mobile telephone equipment and 1.8% for audiovisual content subscriptions.

The rise in fuel prices followed an increase in gasoline costs in mid-August. The increase brought prices closer to the historic levels recorded in March, when the government of José Antonio Kast applied what the article calls the “bencinazo” at the start of the conflict in the Middle East.

Kast’s administration secured approval in early August for an economic and tax reform that includes corporate tax cuts and aims to increase growth. The measure awaits promulgation. The Central Bank of Chile cut its 2026 growth forecast in June to between 1% and 1.75%, after the economy contracted 0.5% in the first quarter. Chile’s economy grew 2.5% in 2025, while inflation ended that year at 3.5%, its lowest level in five years.