Georgian August inflation down by 0.1%, annual figure at 1% - Statistics Office

The consumer price index in Georgia decreased by 0.1 percent in August compared to July, while the annual inflation rate amounted to one percent, the National Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

The main factor contributing to the monthly inflation rate was reduction in prices for clothing and footwear, and communication services.

Specifically, prices for clothing and footwear decreased by 1.9 percent month-on-month, contributing -0.07 percentage points to the overall monthly inflation rate, the Office said. Prices went down for both footwear (-3.7 percent) and clothing (-1.3 percent).

As for communication services, prices in this group decreased by 5.7 percent, contributing -0.2 percentage points to the overall monthly index.

On the other hand, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.5 percent.

Prices increased for the following subgroups:

• Oils and fats (1.3 percent)
• Meat (1.3 percent)
• Coffee, tea and cocoa (1.3 percent)
• Vegetables (1.2 percent)
• Mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (0.9 percent)
• Fish (0.8 percent)
• Milk, cheese and eggs (0.1 percent)

At the same time, prices decreased for the subgroup of fruit and grapes (-2.1 percent) and sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery (-2.1 percent).

As for the annual inflation rate, the Office said it was mainly influenced by price changes for transport (+7.4 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+4.5 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-2.6 percent) and communication services (-12.7 percent).