Annual inflation reaches 18.7% in September, statistics

Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute on October 17 reported that the annual inflation in September 2022 is 18.7%.The monthly inflation rate is 1.2% and the year-to-date inflation rate (September 2022 vs. December 2021) is 14.0%.

The following consumer groups saw the largest price increases:

• Education - 5.4% increase
• housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels - increase of 4.2%
• food and non-alcoholic beverages - increase of 2.3%
• clothing and footwear - increase of 1.9%

Prices of goods and services in the following consumer groups decreased:

• entertainment and culture - decrease by 4.6%
• transport - decrease by 2.9%
• communications - decrease by 1.8%

In food, leafy greens - 9.9%, green beans, zucchini and eggplants - 8.2%, citrus and southern fruits - 7.1%, tomatoes - 7.0%, eggs - 6.5%, pasta - 5. 3%, cottage cheese - by 5.2%, pork - by 4.8%, garlic - by 4.5%, white salted cheese - by 4.5%, cucumbers - by 4.4%, low-fat fresh milk - by 4.3%, sugar - by 3.8%, beef meat - by 3.1%, cabbage - by 3.1%.

The biggest decrease is in the price of pepper - by 12.5%, grapes - by 9.4%, root vegetables - by 6.5%, apples - by 5.3%.

In non-food goods and services, the largest price increases were recorded in methane for LTC - by 18.3%, central gas supply - by 16.7%, pellets - by 12.7%, firewood - by 12.2%, coal - by 6.8%, cinemas and theatres - by 6.4%, educational literature - by 5.1%, newspapers - by 4.8%, higher education - by 4.4%.

There were decreases in the prices of air passenger transport - 13.3%, courier services - 12.8%, package holiday and travel services - 12.0%, LPG - 10.4%, short-term accommodation services- 9.3%, A95H petrol- 6.4%, A100H petrol- 4.8%, diesel- 3.2%, washing machines and dishwashers- 2.1%.

In September 2022, the prices of pharmaceuticals increased by 1.1% and the prices of physician and dental services increased by 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.