The inflation rate fell for the third consecutive month to 9.1% in July 2023 compared to 9.3% in June 2023, the prices of food, manufactured goods and services remained high, according to a note published on Saturday by the National Statistics Institute (INS).
The Institute attributes this fall in inflation, which comes despite a monthly rise in prices, to a slowdown in the pace of price increases between July and June 2023 compared with the same period last year.
Core inflation in July 2023, i.e. inflation excluding energy and food, went down to around 7.3%, down from 7.4% in June 2023.
Prices for non-food items rose by 10.3%, compared with 5.1% for regulated goods. In particular, the annual rate of change for non-food items reached 16.4%, compared with only 2.2% for regulated food items.
Statistics provided by the National Institute of Statistics show a decrease in the upward price trend for the food group from 15.2% to 14.2%, for clothing and footwear from 9.7% to 9.4% and for furniture, equipment and household services from 9.7% to 9.5%.
Soaring prices for food, industrial goods and services
Food prices (annualised) rose by 14.2%, driven by a 35% increase in coffee, 32.5% for lamb, 21.6% for beef and 20.2% for edible oil. In addition, egg prices and fresh produce prices increased by 19.3% and 14.6% respectively.
Manufactured goods prices increased by 7.7% on an annual basis in July 2023, mainly due to a 6.8% increase in construction materials, a 9.4% increase in clothing and footwear prices and an 8.9% increase in cleaning products.
Similarly, service prices picked up 6.5%, driven by an 11.2% increase in the price of restaurants, cafés and accommodation, a 15.3% rise in the cost of public and private transport and a 20.7% rise in the price of financial services.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse