Albania’s annual inflation sinks to 4.6% in April

Albania’s annual inflation sinks to 4.6% in April
/ bne IntelliNews
By bne IntelliNews May 8, 2023

Albania’s annual consumer price index (CPI) inflation dropped to 4.6% in April (chart), statistics office Instat said on May 8. Monthly inflation stood at 0.03%.

Albania’s inflation has been on a downward trend since it peaked at 8.3% in October 2022. This followed a hike in prices that started as the international economy emerged from the coronacrisis, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

As of April, annual CPI inflation was considerably lower than a year earlier; it stood at 6.2% in April 2022.

The central bank forecasts suggest that inflation will continue its gradual decline this year and will return to target within the first half of 2024. At its latest rate-setting meeting on May 3, the Bank of Albania’s supervisory council decided to keep the base interest rate unchanged at 3.0%

Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices remained the main driver of annual inflation, contributing +3.43 percentage points (pp), with an increase of 9.6%. 

Other prices that saw strong year-on-year price increases included furniture, household goods and maintenance (6.7%), hotels, coffee houses and restaurants (4.5%), clothing and footwear (3.9%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.8%). 

Transport prices dropped by 10.7% y/y, dragging the index down by -0.71 pp. 

Month on month, the biggest price increases were for furniture, household goods and maintenance (0.9%), miscellaneous goods and services (0.6%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco and recreation and culture (0.5% each), 

The biggest price decrease was for transport, of 1.1%, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.2%).

Data

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