Friday, June 3 2022 14:46

ArmInfo.In Armenia, the price rally in food and oil products is spurring inflation acceleration. In May 2022, compared to May 2021, it has already reached 9% (compared to 5.9% in the previous year).

This was largely due to the rise in prices by 13.8% % (against 7.6% a year earlier) of food products, of which vegetables registered the most noticeable increase in price -  by 51.3%, buckwheat - by 41.7%, lentils - by 34.5%, pasta - by 27.7%,  cheese - by 22.9%, cottage cheese - by 19.2%, rice - by 15.8%, bread  - by 14.1%, flour - by 13 .5%, beef and pork - by 12.2-10.8%. This is  evidenced by the data of the RA Statistical Committee.

A slightly lower y-o-y inflation in May was due to non-food products,  which rose in price by 6.8% (against 9% a year earlier). And this was  mainly provoked by an increase in prices for diesel fuel - by 48.7%  and gasoline - by 18.4%, clothing and footwear - by 8.5%, large and  small household electrical equipment - by 7.2-7.6%, furniture - by  6.9%.

Tariffs for services in May also accelerated growth - up to 4.8% per  annum (from 2.2% a year earlier), mainly due to a jump in prices for  recreation services - by 26%, as well as an increase in prices for  air tickets on international flights - by 14.6%.  

In January-May 2022 alone, inflation also accelerated - up to 6% from  4.7% in the same period of 2021.  This was provoked mainly by an  acceleration in the growth of prices for food products (including  alcohol and cigarettes) - up to 9% (from 7.8% a year earlier), and an  even greater increase in tariffs for services - by 3.7% (against 0.9%  a year earlier), with a slowdown in the growth of prices for non-food  products to 3.9% (from 5% a year earlier). Moreover, in the market of  non-food products, diesel fuel in January-May jumped in price by  30.5%, while in May alone it rose in price by 10.8%.

In y-o-y terms (January-May 2022 versus January-May 2021), inflation  also accelerated to 7.7% from last year's 5.5%, which was largely due  to a 12.5% increase in food prices (against 7.6% a year earlier) and  an accelerated increase in tariffs for services - by 3.2% (against  1.9% a year earlier), while the growth in prices for non-food  products slowed down to 5.9% (from 7.6% a year earlier).

In January-May, 6% inflation was accompanied by a 5.9% revaluation of  the dram against the US dollar, while a year earlier in the same  period, lower inflation of 4.7% was accompanied by a devaluation of  the dram against the dollar by 0.5 %. ). In May 2022 against May  2021, the dram revalued against the dollar by 12.4% - up to 456.5 AMD  / $ 1 with inflation of 9%, while a year earlier in May 2021 against  May 2020 there was a devaluation of the dram against the dollar by  7.7 % - up to 521.4 AMD/$1 with inflation of 5.9%.