August 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's consumer prices increased by an annual 17.3% in July, following a rise of 16.9% in June, the statistical office said on Tuesday.
On a monthly comparison basis, inflation accelerated to 1.1% in July, from 0.9% in June, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a monthly inflation report.
The average annual inflation in the 12 months to end-July 2022 was 10.5%, with consumer prices having increased by 11.3% since the start of January.
Prices rose the most year-on-year in July in transport, by 31.4%, the NSI said. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which have the largest weight in the consumer basket, jumped 24.2% compared to July 2021. Prices in the other major category - housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, posted the third-largest increase in July, of 21.4% on the year.
In monthly terms, there was a decrease in consumer prices of 2.0% in clothing and footwear as well as of 1.7% in transport. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages inched down 0.1% compared to June, NSI data showed.
Bulgaria’s EU-harmonised consumer price index (HICP) went up by 14.9% on an annual comparison basis in July and was 0.8% higher than a month earlier.
Bulgaria's average inflation is expected to accelerate to 14.7% in 2022 as a result of the higher energy, raw materials and food prices, the country's central bank said in its quarterly economic review published in June.
Earlier that month, the European Commission also lifted its projection for Bulgaria's inflation in 2022 to 12.5% from 11.9% projected in May.