Wednesday, January 10 2018 19:58

ArmInfo. For the consumer market of Armenia in 2017 was inflationary - 2.6%, after two years of deflation - 1.1% in 2016 and 0.1% in 2015.

This was mostly caused by an increase in the prices of food products (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 5.3% and non-food products by 1.7%, while tariffs for services decreased by 0.5%. The National Statistical Service of Armenia told ArmInfo that the average monthly increase in consumer prices in Jan-Dec 2017 was 0.2%, against a decline of 0.1% a year earlier.

In the annual breakdown (January-December 2017 to January-December 2016), the consumer market also recorded inflation of 1% (against deflation of 1.4% a year ago), which was due to a rise in price of food products by 4% (against a 3% decline in the year earlier), with a reduction in the price of non-food products by 1.8% (against a decline of 2.5% a year earlier) and a 1.3% decrease in service tariffs (against a 1.8% increase a year earlier). Only in December 2017, the consumption grew by 1.5%, mainly due to a 3.2% rise in the price of foodstuffs, while the prices of non-food products grew by 0.1% and a similar increase in tariffs for services. In Yerevan, consumer prices rose by 1.2% in December 2017.

According to statistics, December inflation in the food market (3.6%, excluding alcohol and cigarettes) is due mainly to the rise in price of fruits and vegetables by 25.1% and 4.3% respectively (with annual growth - December 2017 to December 2016 - by 8.2% and 0.9%). In Yerevan, vegetables grew in price by 21.9% in December, and fruits - by 4.1%. In total, vegetables and fruits increased in price in December 2017 by 17.2%, and this group of products, having a specific weight of 8.58% in consumer demand, had a growing impact on inflation of 1.48 percentage points.

Dairy products, cheese and eggs have risen in price by an annual 7%, but only in December - by 2.6% mainly due to the increase in the price of eggs by 7.3% (in October-December, eggs went up by 19% ,4%).  In the capital, this group of products went up by 2.4%.

Meat products in the annual section went up by 11%, but only in December - by 1.3%, and in Yerevan - by 0.8%.

Fish and fish products rose in price by 24.8% on an annual basis, and in December they fell by 0.3%, while in the capital their price went down by 0.7%.

Sugar and granulated sugar fell in annual terms by 6%, but only in December - by 0.5%, incl. in the capital - by 0.3%. In December, tea, coffee, cocoa, soft drinks - by 0.5%, bakery products and cereals - by 0.4%, butter and fats - by 0.2% also fell in price.

In the group of non-food products, gasoline and diesel fuel in December grew by 1.6% and 1.8%, respectively, with an annual increase of 18.2-18.9%. In the capital, non-food items fell 0.2%.

As for tariffs for services, their growth in December 2017 by 0.1% was mainly due to a rise in the price of hotel services - by 1.3%, services in the sphere of culture and recreation - by 1.2%, and housing and communal services services - by 0,2%. At the same time, services in the transport sector fell in price, by 0.5% due to the decrease in prices for international flights by 1%, and in the spheres of health, communication and education, tariffs for services for December did not change. In the capital, tariffs for services increased by 0.1% in December.