Bulgaria annual deflation down to 2.3% in March
Bulgaria’s consumer price index shrank by 0.2 per cent in March 2014, but the year-on-year deflation fell to 2.3 per cent at the end of March, compared to 2.6 per cent a month earlier, data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) showed on April 14.
Another month of deflation in March means Bulgaria has recorded negative consumer price index (CPI) growth in nine of the past 12 months.
Food and non-food prices were both 0.3 per cent lower than in February, while services prices fell by 0.2 per cent, NSI said.
In annual terms, food prices were two per cent lower than at the end of March 2013. Services were 3.4 per cent cheaper – with the first of three electricity price cuts ordered by the regulator last year now part of the baseline figure – and non-food prices fell by 2.1 per cent over that period, NSI data showed.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by the statistics board for comparison with European Union data, shrank by 0.3 per cent in March. On an annual basis, the harmonised CPI recorded two per cent deflation.
Food and beverages were two per cent cheaper, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and rent has fallen by 4.3 per cent and transportation costs were down 3.8 per cent over the previous 12 months. The three categories account for just over half of the harmonised consumer price index.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
