Overall, inflation excluding administered prices decreased from 6.8 percent in December 2012 to 4.7 percent in December 2013, while the 16 percent trimmed mean measure of core inflation fell from 7.1 percent to 4 percent. The sustained decline in inflation was due to a dissipation of the impact of the increase in administered prices effected in 2012.
The moderate increase in prices was also indicative of benign domestic demand pressures. The impact of government spending on economic activity was small in the context of fiscal consolidation measures, with annual government expenditure growth limited to only 2 percent.