Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages up by 2.3% in one month

According to statistics published by the National Statistics Office, food, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, tobacco, clothing and footwear, housing, water, electricity, gas, fuel, furniture, household equipment, routine maintenance of the house, health and education all registered an increase in October 2012 when compared to the previous month.

Overall, the harmonised index of consumer prices in October went down by 0.7% over September due to the decrease of 7.3% in the restaurants and hotels index. Lower fees for sea and air transport services brought about a drop of 0.5% in the transport index. The miscellaneous goods and services index decreased by 0.3, mainly due to lower fees for certain financial services. Seasonally higher prices of garments were the main reason behind an increase of 7% in the clothing and footwear index.

Higher prices of fruit resulted in an increase of 2.3%, the education index registered an increase of 1.4% due to higher school and private tuition fees. Costlier mobile phones caused the communication index to go up by 0.4%.

The alcoholic beverages and tobacco index registered an increase of 0.2%, mainly on account of higher wine prices. A similar increase was registered in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels mostly due to an upward shift in the price of gas.

Higher priced non-durable household goods underlay a similar increase in the furniture, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house index. The Health index edged up by 0.1% due to higher fees for medical and paramedical services.

In October, the twelve-month moving average rate of inflation stood at 3% and the annual rate stood at 3.2%.