Tunisia’s inflation rate remained unchanged at 5.5% in May 2026, according to the Consumer Price Index for May 2026 published last Friday by the National Institute of Statistics.
This stability is mainly attributed to a slowdown in the rate of increase in prices for the clothing and footwear group (9.1% in May 2026 compared with 9.3% in April 2026), offset by faster price growth in the tobacco group (0.8% in May compared with 0.4% in April) and hotel and restaurant services (6.3% in May compared with 6.2% in April).
Meanwhile, prices in the food and beverages group maintained a steady annual growth rate of 8.2%.
On a year-on-year basis, food prices rose by 8.2%, driven mainly by increases in lamb meat: +21.8%, poultry: +15.6%, beef: +14.1%, fresh vegetables: +12.2%, fresh fish : +11.9% and fresh fruit: +11.6%.
In contrast, prices for edible oils declined by 6.1%, while egg prices fell by 4.6%.
Over the past year, manufactured goods prices increased by 4.6%, largely due to higher prices for clothing and footwear (+9.1%) and household maintenance products (+4.6%).
Service prices rose by 4.2% year-on-year, mainly reflecting a 15.9% increase in accommodation services.
In May 2026, core inflation, which excludes food and energy products, remained stable at 4.8%.
Prices of non-regulated (market-priced) products increased by 6.7% over the year, while prices of regulated products rose by 1.2%.
Among food products, non-regulated food prices climbed 9.3%, compared with just 0.2% for regulated food items.
