3.3% y-o-y inflation registered at Armenian consumer market in August 2018  amid 1.2% deflation in Jan- Aug

ArmInfo. On the consumer market of Armenia, in January- August 2018, deflation was set at 1.2%, versus 1.8% deflation in the same period in 2017. This was provoked by a 4% drop in food products (including alcohol and cigarettes), with a 0.9% increase in non- food products and 1.3% growth in tariffs for services. According to the data provided to ArmInfo by the RA Statistics Committee, in year-over-year terms (versus January-August 2017) 2.5% inflation was registered at the consumer market (versus inflation of 0.6% a year ago), which was caused by the rise in price of food and non-food products, 2.3% and 4.9% respectively, and an increase in tariffs for services by 1.4%.  The average monthly decline in prices for food products in January-August 2018 was 0.2%, repeating last year's trend.

In August 2018 versus August 2017, consumer prices increased by 3.3% due to a 4.2% rise in prices for food products and 4.9% in non-food products, while tariffs for services rose by 0.9%. In August alone inflation was registered at 0.6% at the background of a rise in the price of food products by 1.5% and an increase in tariffs for services by 0.1%, while the price of non-food items decreased by 0.5%. In Yerevan, consumer prices rose by 0.7% in August 2018, against a decline of 0.4% a year earlier.

To note, in August 2017, deflation in Armenia was 0.4%, which was caused by drop of prices on food products by 1.4% amid growth in price of non-food products by 0.2% and increase of tariffs for services by 0.6%. Y-o-y inflation (August 2017 versus August 2016) amounted to 0.9% due to a rise in the price of  food products by 2.7%, with a reduction in the price of non-food  products by 1.8% and increase of tariffs for services by 0.5%. In Jan-Aug 2017 1.8% deflation was registered (versus 3.8% deflation in the same period of 2016) due to decrease of prices on food products (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 2.9% and non-food products by 2.1%, amid a decrease in tariffs for services by 0.1%.  In  y-o-y terms (compared to Jan-Aug 2016) in the consumer market recorded inflation of 0.6% (versus 1.6% deflation a year ago) due to a rise in price of food products by 3.8%, with a cheaper non-food products by 2.9% and the drop of rates for services by 1.6%. Average monthly decline of prices on food products totaled 0.2% in Jan-Aug 2017 versus 0.5% decline a year ago.