Annual inflation in Georgia at 11.5% in July

The Consumer Price Index in Georgia increased by 0.2 percent in July month-on-month, while the annual inflation rate totalled 11.5 percent, the National Statistics Office of Georgia announced on Wednesday.

The agency revealed prices had increased by 7.1 percent in annual core inflation figures, excluding food and non-alcoholic beverages, energy, regulated tariffs and transport, while the annual core inflation without tobacco amounted to 7 percent.

The monthly inflation rate was mainly influenced by price changes in the following groups: 

• Transport (+2.4%)
• Miscellaneous goods and services (+5.7%)
• Furnishings, household equipment and maintenance (+2%)
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages (-1.4%)

Additionally, a 1.2 percent decrease in prices for the purchase of vehicles was reported in July.

While the annual inflation rate was mainly influenced by price changes in the following groups:

• Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+16.4%)
• Transport (+20.6%)
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+13.3%)
• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+8.3%)

Image: Geostat

Prices in July were lower for the following subgroups of food and non-alcoholic beverages:

• Vegetables (-21.1%)
• Fruit and grapes (-9.4%)
• Fish (-1.6%)

However, in the reported period, the prices increased for milk, cheese and eggs by 3 percent, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery by 2.9 percent, oils and fats by 2.4 percent and bread and cereals by 2 percent.

The National Bank of Georgia decided earlier today to keep the refinancing rate unchanged at 11 percent and noted the inflation rate in the country remained high, forecasting the figure would tend to decline in the current and next years and would gradually approach the target level from the second half of 2023.