Bulgaria annual CPI records 0.8% inflation in October
Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) recorded 0.8 per cent inflation in October, down from 0.9 per cent a month earlier, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on November 16 showed.
This was the lowest year-on-year increase in consumer prices since December 2016, when the figure was 0.1 per cent.
In October the CPI rose by 0.6 per cent, making it the sixth time that the monthly figure showed inflation during the previous 12 months, a period that also saw five months of deflation and one month with zero growth.
NSI once again noted that the Covid-19 pandemic created some difficulties in collecting statistical data, but said that it affected only two per cent of the overall CPI basket, same as in the previous four months.
Food prices were 0.1 per cent higher compared to September, while non-food prices rose by 0.9 per cent and services prices were up one per cent. Compared to October 2019, food prices were 3.7 per cent higher, with non-food prices falling by 2.8 per cent, while services prices were up by one per cent.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, was 0.2 per cent higher on a monthly basis, while the annual harmonised CPI inflation in October was 0.6 per cent.
Food and beverage prices were 3.6 per cent higher, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 0.8 per cent and transportation costs were 6.6 per cent lower 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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