The institute reported that the slower growth was primarily due to foodstuffs, which from a year-on-year increase of 6.8% in July rose by 3.5% in August, contributing 1.4 percentage points to the variation of the aggregate index.

The indexes for employment, remuneration and number of hours worked, adjusted for the effects of the calendar turned in annualised increases of 2.7%, 5.9% and 4.0% respectively in August, compared to 2.6%, 5.3% and 2.0% in July, the report concluded.