TIRANA (Albania), January 18 (SeeNews) – Albania’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) rose 2.4% year-on-year in December, the same rate of increase as in November, the country's statistical office, INSTAT, said on Thursday.
December inflation was driven mainly by a 5.5% rise in the harmonised index of consumer prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and fuels (+2.1%), transport (+1.5%), and education (+0.9%), INSTAT added.
On a monthly comparison basis, Albania's HICP increased by 1% in December, after a drop of 0.5% in November, influenced mostly by an increase in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (+2.2%).
Albania's annual non-HICP accelerated to 1.8% in December, from 1.7% in November, INSTAT said earlier this month.
INSTAT started publishing inflation measurement through the HICP in February 2017. The HICP measures consumer price inflation in the euro area. It is compiled according to a methodology that has been harmonised across EU countries to ensure that the data for one country can be compared with the data for another.