Last week, The Central Bank announced that the accumulated inflation rate to September, measured by the variation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) against the figure for December 1995, reached 1.86%, being less than that registered in the same period for 1995, which was 7.21%. The annual inflation rate, measured by the variation of the CPI in the past 12 months, went from 12.53% in September of 1995 to 3.77% in September of 1996. These figures show that there was a reduction in the rate of price increases, when compared to the same period in the previous year. The monthly variation of the CPI from August to September 1996 was 0.55%. The variation on the CPI in September 1996, by groups of goods and services, evidence that the foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco cost 0.10% more, housing was up by 0.21%, clothing by 0.21% and other items by 2.35%.