Inflation has continued its upward trend, picking up in May 2022 to 7.8%, from 7.5% in April, 7.2% in March, 7% in February and 6.7% in January, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced Sunday.
The Institute explained this rise mainly by the accelerated pace of price increases in the group housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels (7.3% against 5% in April) and prices of the group furniture, household items and routine household maintenance (8.4% against 7.4% in April).
Similarly, food prices went up 8.2%, year-on-year, following the rise in prices of eggs by 23%, edible oils by 20.1%, fresh fruit by 16.8%, cereal derivatives by 9.7%, fresh vegetables by 8.5% and fresh fish by 8.4%.
In the same upward trend, the prices of manufactured goods grew 9.3%, due to the increase in prices of building materials by 11.6%, clothing products by 9.4% and household maintenance products by 6.5%.
In services, the 6% year-on-year price rise was driven by price increases in restaurants, cafes and hotels by 7.9%, rents by 4.6% and other services by 7.4%.
The core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) rose to 7.4% from 7.2% the previous month.
Prices of free (non-administered) goods rose by 7.8 percent year-on-year, while prices of administered goods increased by 8.1 percent. Free food products rose by 9.6%, compared with 1.1% for administered food products.
