FIlenews 30 November 2024 - by Theano Thiopoulou
Inflation has endured for two months at a low level of 1.6% (September, October). In November, it jumped to 2.4 percent, dashing expectations that the marginal de-escalation would last.
The data of the harmonized index of prices announced yesterday by Eurostat show that the rate of increase of inflation in Cyprus rose to 2.4%, as it was in July 2024 and November 2023, which is mainly due to high inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which ran at a rate of 5%, from 3.2% in September.
Cypriots are among the Eurozone consumer group that saw the largest increases in the food index, along with Estonians (5.9%), Croatians (5.1%), Latvians (5.5%) and Slovakians (5%).
The worst thing for Cypriot consumers is that the food index last November was 2.7%, so this year in the same month it recorded a percentage change of 2.3% on an annual basis. The countries that kept food growth lower in October are Czechia (0.1%), France (0.7%), Slovenia (1.2%), Ireland (2.1%), Greece (1%), Spain (1.9%), Luxembourg (1.4%), Belgium (2.4%), Italy (2.6%), Denmark (3.9%), Germany (3.1%), Malta (4%), Poland (4.6%), Portugal (3%).
The announcement of the preliminary estimate of the harmonized consumer index by Eurostat for November took Cyprus out of the group of Eurozone countries with the lowest inflation, as it was in October, as it is now at medium levels. For example, the rate of increase in inflation in Ireland was 0.5%, France 1.7%, Latvia 2.3%, Germany 2.4%, Lithuania 1.1%, Malta 2.3%, Luxembourg 1.1%, Austria 2%, Slovenia 1.6%, Finland 1.9%. Higher inflation than Cyprus in November on an annual basis was 3.8%, Portugal 2.7%, Slovakia 3.6%.
In the euro area, the increase in inflation is due to a smaller decrease in energy prices (-1.9% compared with -4.6% in October) and to a lesser extent to an acceleration in non-energy industrial prices to 0.7% from 0.5%. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices slowed marginally to 2.8% from 2.9%, as did services prices to 3.9% from 4%.
