Bulgaria annual CPI records 1.8% inflation in April
Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) recorded 1.8 per cent inflation in April, the lowest since January 2018 and down from three per cent in March, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on May 18 showed.
During April, CPI shrank by 0.6 per cent on a monthly basis. It was the second straight month of decline and only the fourth time that the monthly CPI figure showed deflation during the previous 12 months.
As in March, NSI said that the Covid-19 pandemic created some difficulties in collecting statistical data in April, with 32 per cent of the overall CPI basket affected (versus 24 per cent a month earlier). The institute said that it followed the EU statistics body Eurostat’s recommendations to calculate estimates for the missing data.
Food prices were 0.9 per cent higher compared to March, while non-food and services prices fell by 1.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. Compared to April 2019, food prices were 6.4 per cent higher, with non-food prices falling by 2.2 per cent, while services prices rose by 0.8 per cent.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, was 0.4 per cent lower on a monthly basis, while the annual harmonised CPI inflation in April was 1.3 per cent, also the lowest figure since January 2018.
Food and beverage prices were 6.1 per cent up, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 0.5 per cent and transportation costs were 6.2 per cent down compared to a year earlier. The three categories account for about 48.2 per cent of the harmonised CPI basket.
(Illustration: svilen001/sxc.hu)
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