Deflation in August 2020 amounted to 0.2% – inflation – deflation – State Statistics Service

Photo: Kiev market (Vitaliy Nosach, RBK-Ukraine)

Ukraine has a traditional summer deflation

Consumer prices in Ukraine in August 2020 decreased by 0.2% compared to July. Since the beginning of 2020, inflation has been 1.2%.

This is reported by the State Statistics Service.

According to the statistics department, in annual terms (as of August 2019), inflation accelerated to 2.5% from 2.4% in July 2020.

Food prices in Ukraine fell by 1.5% in August 2020. Mainly vegetables, by 13.5% and fruits, by 8.4%. At the same time, egg prices increased by 3.4%.

The prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products increased by 0.5%, and those of clothing and footwear decreased by 3.0%. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other types of fuels increased 5.7% (including gas increased 37.7%).

Household items and appliances increased by 0.3% in price, health services increased by 0.9%, transportation increased by 1.2% (including fuel prices increased by 2.8%) , the prices of communications rose 0.9%, leisure and culture grew 0.1%, education 0.1%, restaurants and hotels grew 0.1%.

As RBC-Ukraine reported, in July, the NBU improved its inflation forecast and expects consumer prices to rise 4.7% by the end of 2020.

Note that the Ministry of the Economy has improved expectations of price increases for 2020 (December to December) from 11.6% to 5.9%.

As a reminder, the National Bank predicts a price hike if the authorities go to a significant increase in the minimum wage in 2021. At the same time, an increase in the minimum wage from September 1 to 5000 UAH will not lead to a significant acceleration of inflation.