Bulgaria annual CPI records 2.7% inflation in June
Bulgaria’s annual consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.7 per cent in June, up from 2.5 per cent inflation recorded a month earlier, data released by the National Statistical Institute (NSI) on July 15 showed.
Consumer prices shrank by 0.2 per cent on a monthly basis, making it only the second time that the monthly CPI figure showed deflation over the previous 12 months, which also saw inflation recorded nine 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 two per cent of the total consumer price index, compared to one per cent a month earlier.
Food prices in June were 0.9 per cent lower compared to the previous month, while non-food prices and services prices each rose by 0.1 per cent. Compared to June 2020, food prices were 0.8 per cent higher, while non-food prices rose by 3.1 per cent and services prices rose by four per cent.
The harmonised CPI figure, calculated by NSI for comparison with European Union data, recorded no change in June, while the annual harmonised CPI inflation was 2.4 per cent.
Food and beverage prices were 0.8 per cent higher, on an annual basis, while the price of utilities and housing increased by 3.5 per cent and transportation costs were 9.2 per cent higher compared to June 2020. The three categories account for about 48.8 per cent of the harmonised CPI basket.
(Illustration: svilen001/sxc.hu)
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