Lower food and housing prices, coupled with shrinking transport charges, cut Morocco’s CPI inflation to a four-month low of 1.7% y/y in August from 2.4% y/y the month before, the statistics office HCP said on September 22. The reading fully accommodates the central bank’s wait-and-see monetary stance. The central bank will thus likely keep the benchmark rate unchanged at its MPC sitting scheduled for today (Tuesday) afternoon.
In January-August, the CPI inflation averaged 1.8% y/y.
On a monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.1% in August, reversing a 0.5% m/m rise the previous month.
Food prices (45% of basket) ticked up 0.1% m/m in August on strong harvest and as demand cooled post Ramadan. The annual growth, thus, eased to 3.3% from 3.7% y/y in July. Fish prices fell 8.0% m/m in August and those of dairy products dropped 1.0%.
Housing prices (13% of basket), which include rents and utilities, edged up a marginal 0.1% m/m, braking the annual growth to 1.7% from 4.9% y/y in July. The reading was mostly dampened by falling utilities prices amid dropping crude oil costs.
Transport prices shrank 1.0% m/m in August, deepening the annual deflation to 3.2% from 2.7% y/y in July. The prices of diesel, fuel oil and gasoline are now being reviewed twice a month depending on the crude oil prices on the international market. Fuel costs fell 5.0% m/m in August.
| Aug-14 (y/y) | Aug-15 (m/m) | July-15 (y/y) | Aug-15 (y/y) | |
| CPI | 0,0% | -0,1% | 2,4% | 1,7% |
| Food, non-alc drinks | -3,2% | 0,1% | 3,7% | 3,3% |
| Alcohol, tobacco | 0,7% | 0,0% | 5,4% | 5,5% |
| Clothing, footwear | 2,1% | 0,3% | 0,6% | 0,8% |
| Housing, utilities | 4,0% | 0,1% | 4,9% | 1,7% |
| Furnishings | 0,9% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| Health | -1,1% | 0,0% | 0,6% | 0,6% |
| Transport | 3,5% | -1,0% | -2,7% | -3,2% |
| Communications | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| Recreation, culture | -1,0% | 0,0% | 0,5% | 0,5% |
| Education | 3,5% | 0,0% | 3,2% | 3,2% |
| Restaurants, hotels | 2,1% | 0,3% | 2,4% | 2,6% |
| Other | 2,1% | 0,0% | 0,7% | 0,7% |
| Source:HCP |
Related Articles
Egypt brings new gas well online with 10mn cubic feet/day output
Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is finalising procedures to bring a new natural gas well, North El-Basant-1, into production with an expected output of around 10mn cubic feet ... more
Tunisia kicks off stalled expansion of solar projects with 1.3GW capacity push
Tunisia is finally accelerating the deployment of its large-scale photovoltaic (PV) sector after years of slow progress, with construction now underway across multiple major projects, PV-Magazine ... more
Shell and Petronas seek 20% gas price increase for Egypt’s West Delta marine phase
UK energy major Shell (LON:SHEL) and Malaysia's national oil and gas company Petronas have asked the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to raise the gas price for the upcoming Phase 12 ... more