Continuing the downward trend it has been following for months, the inflation rate fell by 3 decimal points to 7.2% in April, the National Statistics Institute announced on Monday.
Despite a monthly increase of 0.9% in consumer prices recorded in April 20-24, this fall in inflation is due to the slowdown in the rate of price increase between April and March this year compared with the same period last year, explained the INS in its press release on the consumer price index published on Monday in Tunis.
Food prices rise by 9.2
However, food prices rose by 9.2% in April-2024 compared to the same month last year. This increase was mainly due to a 35% increase in the price of coffee powder, a 25.5% rise in the price of sheepmeat, a 21.4% increase in the price of edible oils, a 17.4% rise in the price of spices, a 14.3% increase in the price of beef and a 12.1% rise in the price of fresh fish.
The same was true for industrial goods, which rose by 7.1% over the year, driven by a 9.8% increase in the price of clothing and a 9% rise in the price of household goods.
In the services sector, prices went up by 5.6% year-on-year, mainly due to a 10.4% rise in the price of restaurant, café and hotel services and a 9.3% rise in the price of health services.
Inflationary contributions by sector and scheme
Contributions to inflation by sector show that the ‘Industry’ and ‘Services’ groups were the main contributors to overall inflation, at 2.7% and 1.9% respectively.
In terms of contributions to inflation by scheme, the ‘Free non-food’ and ‘Free food’ groups were the largest contributors to inflation, at 3.7% and 2.4% respectively. On the other hand, the ‘Regulated food’ group made the smallest contribution, at 0.1%.
Core inflation was 6.9%
Core inflation (excluding food and energy) fell slightly to 6.9% from 7% in the previous month.
Prices of unregulated products rose by 7.9% year-on-year. Prices of regulated products went up by 4.7%. Unregulated food rose by 10%, compared to 3.6% for regulated food.
Consumer prices up by 0.9% in April 2024
In April 2014, consumer prices increased by 0.9%, after a rise of 0.7% in the previous month.
This increase was mainly due to a 0.5% rise in food prices and a 6.3% rise in clothing prices.
The 0.5% month-on-month increase in Food prices was due to a 5.7% increase in Poultry, a 4.6% increase in Sheepmeat, a 2.9% increase in Fresh fish and a 2.2% increase in Beef.
In contrast, vegetable prices fell by 4.5% and fresh fruit prices by 2.8%.
The 6.3% rise in the price of garments in April 2024 can be explained by the end of the winter sales, which coincided with preparations for the Eid festivities. Clothing prices rose by 6.3%, footwear by 7.3% and accessories by 2.7%.
