The inflation rate rose sharply in October 2017, compared with the previous month to reach 5.8% against 5.5% recorded in September.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), this growth is mainly due to the acceleration of the rate of increase in food and beverage group prices by 7.2% this month against 6% the previous month.
This is mainly due to the rise in vegetable prices from 10% to 14.6%.
In addition, the pace of price increases for clothing and footwear increased to 7.9% from 4.9% in September.
On the other hand, the INS explains that the rise in prices of food and beverages comes mainly from the rise in prices of edible oils by 22.1%, fish by 7.1%, vegetables by 14.6%, meat by 1.7% and milk, cheese and eggs by 3.2%.
Beverage prices were up 6.3% on the back of higher prices for mineral water, soft drinks and fruit juices by 7.4% and coffee and tea prices by 3.8%.
Prices for clothing and footwear increased 7.9% year-on-year due to higher shoe prices by 7%, clothing by 8.5%, fabric by 24% and accessories by 6%.
The housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels group grew 4.2% year-over-year due to a 4.5% increase in rents, 8.1% in housekeeping rates and 2.8% in electricity and gas tariffs.
Prices for furniture, household goods and home maintenance also rose 5.4%. For the health group prices, they recorded a 3.8% increase, following the 2.3% rise in drug prices and the 6.7% growth in private ambulatory services’ prices.
Price increases were also observed at the transport group tariffs by 6.5%, following vehicle price increases by 10.9%, vehicle utilization expenses by 6.4% and transport services by 1%.
Similarly, communication group prices increased by 2.6% year-on-year, following the 33.5% increase in postal services, 8.5% in telephone and telephony services and 1.3% in internet.
The INS reported that the core inflation rate “excluding food and beverages and excluding energy” stands at 5.3%.
Free (non-regulated) product prices rose 6.8% year-on-year, compared to 2.6% for regulated prices.
Free food products increased by 8.4% compared with 0.9% for regulated products.
