Bulgaria annual CPI records 0.1% deflation in February

Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) shrank by 0.1 per cent in February, compared to 0.6 per cent deflation a month earlier, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on March 15 showed.

Monthly inflation in February was 0.6 per cent, the sixth time that the monthly CPI figure showed an increase over the previous 12 months, which also saw deflation recorded five times and one month of zero growth.

Beyond the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the inflation indicator, it limited NSI’s ability to collect the data, with the statistics body saying that it had to extrapolate about five per cent of the total consumer price index, compared to seven per cent a month earlier.

Food prices were 1.1 per cent higher in February compared to the previous month, while non-food and services prices were up 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively. Compared to February 2020, food prices were 0.3 per cent higher, while non-food prices fell by two per cent and services prices rose by 1.3 per cent.

The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, recorded 0.5 per cent inflation in February, while the annual harmonised CPI inflation was 0.2 per cent.

Food and beverage prices were 0.4 per cent higher, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 0.7 per cent and transportation costs were 2.9 per cent lower compared to February 2020. The three categories account for about 48.8 per cent of the harmonised CPI basket.

(Illustration: svilen001/sxc.hu)

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