Hardly perceptible, the pace at which inflation is receding in Tunisia is clear. As the months go by, the inflation rate is edging down by tiny decimal points, modest, almost homeopathic doses, yet reflecting a dynamic that contrasts sharply with the repeated price surges that once hit the household shopping basket.
Inflation stood at 4.8% in January 2026, down from 4.9% in December 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in its monthly bulletin Consumer Price Index, January 2026.
This decrease is mainly due to a slowdown in the rise of prices in the food products group (5.9% in January 2026 compared with 6.1% in December 2025) and in restaurant, café and hotel services (5.5% in January 2026 compared with 6% in December 2025).
On a year-on-year basis (compared with January 2025), food prices increased by 5.9%. This rise is mainly explained by higher prices for lamb meat (+16.1%), fresh fruit (+17.8%), fresh fish (+11.3%) and beef (+10.4%).
By contrast, edible oil prices fell by 12%. Over the year, manufactured goods prices rose by 5%, driven by increases in clothing and footwear prices (+10.1%) and household maintenance products (+4.9%).
As for services, prices increased by 3.7% year on year, mainly due to higher accommodation services prices (+11.4%).
Core inflation stable at 4.9% in January 2026
In January 2026, core inflation (excluding food and energy) remained stable at 4.9%. Prices of non-regulated (free) products rose by 6% year on year, while regulated prices increased by 0.6%. Free food products recorded a rise of 6.7%, compared with just 0.2% for price-controlled food products.
In terms of sectoral contributions, the INS notes that manufactured goods and services made the largest contributions to overall inflation, at 2% and 1.2%, respectively.
By pricing regime, the non-food free and food free groups contributed the most to inflation, at 3% and 1.7%, respectively.
Consumer prices up 0.3% month on month
The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3% in January 2026 compared with December 2025. This increase was mainly driven by higher prices in the food group and the clothing and footwear group, both up 0.4%.
On a monthly basis, food prices rose by 0.4%, due to higher prices for poultry (+4%), fruit (+2.3%) and fresh fish (+2.1%). In contrast, prices of edible oils fell by 1.6% and vegetables by 1.8%.
Prices in the clothing and footwear group increased by 0.4% month on month, reflecting a 0.4% rise in clothing prices and a 0.3% increase in footwear prices.
Prices in the recreation and culture services group went up by 0.6%, mainly due to higher prices for information processing, audiovisual and photographic equipment (+0.7%).
