10-month CPI increase hits lowest level since 2016

October alone saw the CPI decrease by 0.2% compared to the previous month, whilst increasing by 1.77% compared to the same period from last year.

Of the 11 major groups of consumer goods and services, three groups recorded a decline in prices compared to the previous month, while a total of eight groups also witnessed an increase in prices.

Most notably, food and catering services saw a fall of 1.28% in prices over the previous month due to an abundance of supply sources, a factor which led to the price of rice and pork to drop by 0.25% and 9.38%, respectively.

The group of housing and construction materials also suffered a fall of 0.26% due to a fall in rent prices aimed at supporting people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the post and telecommunications group also decreased by 0.04%.

The price of domestic electricity and water also fell , which led to low demand for use in comparison to the previous month.

The transportation group posted the highest increase of 2.51% compared to the previous month as a result of three adjustments made in petrol and oil prices.

Moreover, the education group increased by 0.25% over the previous month, with educational services enjoying a rise of 0.22% due to several localities increasing preschool fees, while the remaining groups saw a rise of between 0.02% and 0.19%.

Core inflation throughout October reduced by 0.17% over the previous month, marking an annual increase of 0.5% against the same period from last year.

Throughout the reviewed period, core inflation rose by only 0.84% ​on-year, lower than the overall average CPI of 1.81%, mainly due to price hikes in food, gasoline, oil, and gas.

According to data compiled by the GSO, core inflation in October and during the 10-month period as a whole witnessed its lowest levels since 2011.