Insurance, petrol, mortgages lead inflation of 3.2%

SOARING insurance, petrol and mortgage costs sent prices up 3.2% in the last year, the highest rate in 30 months.

Food costs are up almost 1% in the last year, while petrol prices have risen 13.8% and insurance costs a little more than 16%.

Other big increases are seen in the price of air travel which is up 27.3% in the year and mortgage interest is up 26.7%. Rail travel increased by 1.6% in the past month alone while rent prices were up 0.6% in April, according to the figures from the Central Statistics Office.