Georgian July inflation down by 0.4%, annual figure at 1.8% - Statistics Office

The consumer price index in Georgia decreased by 0.4 percent in July compared to June, while the annual inflation rate amounted to 1.8 percent, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.

The main factor contributing to the monthly inflation rate was reduction in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages and clothing and footwear.

Specifically, month-on-month, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 0.7 percent, contributing -0.24 percentage points to the overall monthly inflation rate, the Office said.

The prices decreased for the following subgroups: 

• Vegetables (-6.1 percent)
• Fruit and grapes (-2.2 percent)
• Milk, cheese and eggs (-1.6 percent)
• Meat (-0.6 percent)
• Fish (-0.1 percent)

At the same time, prices increased for sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery (3.8 percent), oils and fats (2.2 percent), coffee, tea and cocoa (1.8 percent), the Office said.

The group of clothing and footwear saw a decrease in prices by 2.1 percent, contributing -0.08 percentage points to the overall monthly inflation rate. Prices were lower for both clothing (-2.1 percent) and footwear (-1.8 percent).

Prices for miscellaneous goods and services increased by 1.4 percent, contributing 0.07 percentage points to the overall index. Within the group, the prices were higher mainly for the following subgroups: financial services n.e.c. (4.2 percent), personal care (0.7 percent), personal items (0.3 percent).

As for the annual inflation rate, the Office said it was mainly influenced by price changes for transport (+ 9.4 percent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.4 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+4.3 percent) and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-2.8 percent).