Inflation continues to rise for the third consecutive month, reaching 3.9% in June 2016, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS).
The consumer price index grew 0.4% in June, compared to the previous May, INS says in its latest report on inflation in Tunisia.
This increase, which coincided with the month of Ramadan (June 6 to July 6, 2016), is the result, according to the INS, to accelerated changes in prices of food and beverages, which rose from 2.9% in May to 3.7% in June yoy.
Prices of the housing and household energy group also jumped from 4.8% to 7%, a direct result of the increase in prices of public drinking water and sanitation.
Overall, the rate of inflation experienced a significant decline over the past seven months, losing a point and falling by 4.6% in October 2015 to 3.6% in the last two months.
Furthermore, the increase recorded in the inflation rate in June 2016 is explained by the significant rise in prices of fruits and dried fruit (+ 10.6%), edible oil (+ 6.7%) and fish (+ 5.8% ).
Prices of meat have decreased by 4.3% and those of milk and dairy products and eggs by 0.9%.
Drinks prices grew 5.2% due to higher prices of mineral water, soft drinks and juices by 7.5%.
Similarly, prices of the clothing and footwear group increased by 7% compared to June 2015 due to higher prices of footwear by 4.9% and clothing 7.7%.
In the same context, the housing and domestic energy group index posted an increase of 6.5% compared to the same period of last year, following the rise in prices of drinking water and sanitation services by 13.4%.
The price index of rents and construction and maintenance materials increased sequentially by 7.3% and 1.9%.
On the other hand, prices of communication group continued to decline (- 0.5%) due to falling prices of communication services (- 0.2%) and communication equipment (-2.4%), said the same source.
