Bulgaria annual inflation hits new seven-year high 4.2% in January
Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) recorded 4.2 per cent inflation in January, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on February 14 showed.
This was the highest year-on-year increase in consumer prices since January 2013, when the figure was 4.4 per cent, exceeding the 3.8 per cent annual inflation figure recorded in December.
Monthly CPI inflation in January was 0.9 per cent. It was the tenth time that the monthly CPI figure showed an increase during the previous 12 months, with deflation recorded in June and September 2019.
Food prices were 2.6 per cent higher compared to December, while non-food prices fell by 0.3 per cent and services prices were up 0.7 per cent. Compared to January 2019, food prices were 7.8 per cent higher, while non-food and services prices rose by 1.9 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, recorded 0.5 per cent inflation in January, while the annual harmonised CPI was up 3.4 per cent.
Food and beverage prices were 7.5 per cent up, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 2.2 per cent and transportation costs were 3.9 per cent higher compared to a year earlier. The three categories account for about 48.3 per cent of the harmonised CPI basket.
(Image: svilen001/sxc.hu)
