Inflation rate at 0.3% in February
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, March 5
Consumer Price Index in February increased by 0.3 % compared to the previous month, while the annual inflation rate amounted to 2.3%.
The information was released by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) on March 4.
The monthly inflation rate was mainly influenced by price changes for the following groups:
• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco – prices increased by 6.7% while only tobacco prices went up by 13%
• Clothing and footwear - prices in the group decreased by 4.6 percent, contributing -0.16 % points to the overall monthly inflation rate.
As for the annual inflation, mainly it was affected by the price changes in food and non-alcoholic beverages category. The prices within the group increased by 2.9 percent, contributing 0.9 percentage points to the overall annual inflation rate.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco category prices increased by 16.1 percent, with a relevant contribution of 1.06 percentage points to the overall annual CPI growth. The prices increased for tobacco by 32.7% annually.
The annual CPI was also influenced by increased prices in the health category. The prices were higher for the following subgroups: medical products, appliances and equipment (4.8 percent), outpatient services (4.1 percent) and hospital services (1.4 percent).
The prices in the group of transport increased by 2.0 percent, with a relevant contribution of 0.25 percentage points to the overall index growth.
Last month Geostat reported that in January 2019 the Consumer Price Index increased by 1.3 percent compared to the previous month, while the annual inflation rate amounted to 2.2%.
As for December 2018 CPI, it increased by 0.5 percent compared to the previous month, while the annual inflation rate amounted to 1.5 %.
