Considerably more success was achieved on the inflation front during the past year. The twelve month rate of increase in the CPIX declined from a recent peak of 11,3 percent in November 2002 to 4,0 percent in December 2003 and then rose to a still low 4,4 percent in May 2004.
A number of factors have been identified in our Monetary Policy Statements explaining this favourable inflation outcome, which I won't repeat again this evening. It is generally expected that the high petrol and diesel price increases at the beginning of June 2004 and increases in the prices of medical products  would have caused inflation to rise in that month.