Annual Inflation Slows to 2.3% in October

Inflation rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier, slowing from the 4.6% year-on-year rise in September, the Georgian state statistics agency, Geostat, said on Thursday.

Geostat posted the first monthly deflation since June, saying that consumer price index fell 0.2% month-on-month in October.

Georgia’s annual inflation started slowing down in June after hitting 14.3% in May.

Transport and fuel prices were key drivers of annual inflation in October with prices on public transport increasing 24.3% and fuel prices going up by 14.1%.

Prices on food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 1.5% y/y in October, down from 5.8% in September. Price rise was high on meat (21.8%); sugar (10%) and food oil (6.7%).

The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) reduced its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 7.25% late last month, saying that the annual inflation rate was below the target level and was expected to decrease further.