Armenia’s consumer price deflation eases further in November

Armenia’s consumer price deflation eases further in November
By bne IntelliNews December 8, 2016

Armenia’s consumer price deflation continued its steady pullback in November as the fall trimmed to 0.6% y/y from 0.9% a month earlier, the country's statistics agency Armstat said on December 7.

Unlike its regional peers, Armenia has enjoyed relative monetary stability in recent years, following a 14% depreciation of the dram in December 2014. As such, inflation has remained within the government's target of 2.5% to 5.5%. Over the past eight months, however, the consumer price index (CPI) has stayed in negative territory, prompting the central bank to ease monetary policy, cutting rates five times since February.  The latest rate cut was delivered on September 27, when the bank lowered its refinancing rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 6.75%

A 3.5% decline in food prices and a 1.4% contraction in food prices were the drivers behind last month's contraction in CPI.

On a monthly basis, however, prices increased by 1% in November on the back of a 2.8% hike in food prices, Armstat added.

Overall, consumer prices deflated by 1.4% y/y in the first eleven months of the year. 

Data

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