Consumer Prices Continued to Drop in the First Month of 2016

According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued to show signs of deflation in the first month of the year. The CPI dropped from 97.13 points in January 2015 to 94.45 points by the end of January 2016, recording a 2.76% year-on-year (y-o-y) decrease.This fall is mostly attributed to the continuing deterioration of oil quotes and the depreciation of the Euro during the last year.

In terms of the CPI’s components, “food and non-alcoholic beverages” prices (20.6% of CPI) downturned by 0.73% y-o-y in January 2016. Moreover, “transportation” (13.1% of CPI) and “water, electricity, gas & other fuels” (11.9% of CPI), saw annual declines of 3.12% and 15.67%, respectively. The “Health” (7.8% of CPI) sub-index posted a yearly drop of 6.31% in January 2016, while prices of “communication” (4.6% of CPI) and “Clothing and Footwear” (5.4% of CPI), posted respective y-o-y falls of 0.77% and 2.59% over the same period. However, “education” sub-index, constituting 5.9% of the CPI, increased annually by 1.52% in January 2016. In addition, “restaurant & hotels” (2.6% of CPI) prices went up by 2.12% y-o-y, which might be due to an improving tourist activity during the first month of the year.

 

Yearly Deflation Rates

Consumer Prices Continued to Drop in the First Month of 2016

Source: CAS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *