Analysis

Georgian consumer prices see sharp increase

Georgia’s National Statistics Office (GeoStat) has revealed that economic growth for the first 11 months of 2018 was 4.7 per cent, with inflation increasing to 1.5 per cent.

The annual inflation rate was mainly influenced by the increase of prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages. Products in the two categories contributed 0.52 per cent to the overall annual inflation rate. The increase of prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco by respectively, 4.9 per cent and 8.1 per cent, moreover, brought about a contribution of 0.33 per cent to the inflation rate.

Additionally, price changes in housing, water, electricity, gas (and other fuels), health and transport were responsible for 0.72 per cent of the annual inflation rate. The highest price fluctuations were observed in water supply and miscellaneous services related to housing (7.7 per cent); medical products, appliances and equipment (four per cent); out-patient services (3.4 per cent); personal transport (3.4 per cent); and electricity, gas and other fuels (2.9 per cent).

The Consumer Price Index for December rose 0.5 per cent compared to November.