February Inflation Rate at 0.2% in Georgia

In February 2018, the monthly inflation rate in Georgia amounted to 0.2%. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the Consumer Price Index change (CPI - annual inflation rate) posted a 2.7% increase.

The data was presented by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), which claims that the monthly inflation rate was most heavily influenced by price changes for food and non-alcoholic beverages.

In February, prices for said items increased by 0.4% and contributed 0.13 percentage points to the overall CPI change.

Geostat says that prices were comparably higher for the following subgroups: fruit and grapes (10.4 %), vegetables (2.9 %), fish (1.5 %).

Meanwhile, prices decreased for milk, cheese and eggs (-2.3 %) and for sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionary (-1.6 %).

Moreover, prices in the group of Restaurants and Hotels increased by 2.1%, contributing 0.09 percentage points to the overall CPI change.

The prices were also up in the group of alcoholic beverages and tobacco by 1.2%, but down for clothing and footwear by 22%.

Annual inflation was mainly influenced by price changes for the following groups:

Food and non-alcoholic beverages - prices increased 3.4%, contributing 1.04 percentage points to the annual inflation.

Transport - prices in the group increased 2.9%, contributing 0.41 percentage points to the annual inflation.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco - prices increased by 7.4% with a relevant contribution of 0.49 percentage points to the overall CPI.

Health - prices were up 4.3%, which resulted in a 0.35 percentage point contribution to the overall annual inflation.

by Thea Morrison