Bulgaria annual inflation hits seven-year high 3.8% in 2019
Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) recorded 3.8 per cent inflation in December 2019, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on January 15 showed.
This was the highest year-on-year increase in consumer prices since January 2013, when the figure was 4.4 per cent. In 2018, Bulgaria recorded 2.7 per cent CPI inflation.
Monthly CPI inflation in December was 0.7 per cent. It was the tenth time that the monthly CPI figure showed an increase during the year, with two months of deflation recorded in 2019.
Food prices were 0.8 per cent higher compared to November, while non-food prices fell by 0.1 per cent and services prices were up 1.8 per cent. Compared to December 2018, food prices were 6.8 per cent higher, while non-food and services prices rose by 1.5 per cent and three per cent, respectively.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, recorded 0.8 per cent inflation in December, while the annual harmonised CPI was up 3.1 per cent.
Food and beverage prices were 6.5 per cent up, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 2.3 per cent and transportation costs were 2.5 per cent higher compared to 2018. The three categories account for about 48.3 per cent of the harmonised CPI basket.
(Photo: svilen001/sxc.hu)
