AAFAF report: Puerto Rico’s inflation rate up by 3.4%

By The Star Staff

Puerto Rico’s inflation rate increased from 3.2% to 6.6% between the third quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2022, a macroeconomic indicators report from the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) said.

The report was for the period that ended in September.

Income tax collections increased by 31.3% and corporate income tax by 46.5% between the second quarter of 2021 (2Q21) and the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22). The unemployment rate fell to 6.2% from 8.1% in the same period, according to the report.

Exports decreased by 0.5% and imports grew by 17.7% between 2Q21 and 2Q22, it indicated.

Other indicators show that between 2Q21 and 2Q22 there was a 6.8% increase in the number of bankruptcies, and a 3.5% increase in hotel registrations.

On the negative side, mortgage originations decreased by 18.6% during the same period.

Meanwhile, cement sales decreased by 10.5% and automobile sales decreased by 11.0% between 3Q21 and 3Q22.

The AAFAF report includes information on several macroeconomic indicators sorted into 10 separate categories, including economic activity, employment and wages, exports and emigration, business growth, manufacturing, tourism, housing and real estate, poverty and state and federal programs, human capital, and macroeconomic growth factors.

The data was collected at varying dates and then compared to results from a year before.