Price rally of food and oil products in Armenia spurs inflation  acceleration

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%.