The inflation rate rose to 5.6% in July 2017 from 4.8% the previous month, due to the new fuel rate that led to an increase in the transport group by 8% year-on-year (against 6.1% in June 2017), the rise in tobacco prices by 12.4% (0.2% in June) and a lag in the sale periods between 2016 and 2017, resulting in a 13.3% year-over-year rise (9.3% in June).
According to statistics published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the inflation rate (5.6%) is also due to the 3.6% increase in food and beverage prices, in particular, the increase in prices of edible oils by 17.7%, fish by 6.3%, and mineral water, soft drinks and fruit juices by 7%.
In the clothing and footwear group, prices went up 13.3% year-on-year, while the two groups “housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels” and “furniture, household goods and maintenance” each rose 4.7%.
Prices for the healthcare group rose by 4.2%, following a rise in drug prices by 2.7% and private ambulatory services prices by 7.2%.
Price increases were also observed in the tariffs of the transport group by 8%, the catering and hotels group by 6.1%, the “other goods and services” group by 4.2% and “communication” group by 2.2%.
It is important to note that the inflation rate excluding food and beverages and non-energy is 6.7%.
Prices of free (unregulated) products grew by 6.2% over one year, and particularly free food products, which went up 4.1% compared to 0.8% for regulated products.
The consumer price index has increased significantly by 0.9% in July 2017, compared to June,
due to a rise in the prices of transport group (2%), alcoholic and tobacco group (12.1%), clothing and footwear group (0.8%) and the housing group (0.8%).
On the other hand, food and beverages prices fell by 0.2% compared to the previous month, despite the rise in prices for coffee powder.
