Geostat: January Inflation Rate Amounts to 0.6% in Georgia

TBILISI--The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) reports that January monthly inflation rate amounted to 0.6%, adding compared with the same period of the previous year, the Consumer Price Index change (CPI - annual inflation rate) saw a 4.3% increase.

Geostat says the monthly inflation rate was mainly influenced by price changes for some products.

Last month prices were increased by 1.7 percent for food and non-alcoholic beverages. In particular prices were substantially higher for:
• Fruit and grapes (9.8 percent)
• Vegetables (5.3 percent)
• Milk, cheese and eggs (3.0 percent)

Prices went up for electricity, gas and other fuels (2.5 percent), also for water supply and miscellaneous services related to the dwelling (7.7 percent).

On the other hand, prices decreased for footwear (-3.5 percent) and clothing (-1.5 percent) last month.

As for the overall annual inflation rate in January 2018, it was mainly influenced by price changes for the following groups:
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages - 4.7 % increase
• Transport - 6.6 % increase
• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco - 11.5 % increase
• Health - 6.4 % increase
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels - 4.2 % increase.

As for the last month, Georgia’s monthly inflation rate amounted to 0.8% in December, while the annual inflation rate (Consumer Price Index change) increased by 6.7 percent, said the statistics agency.