Inflation eases to 9.1% in Oct
Inflation fell below the 10% level in October for the first time since March, driven solely by falling electricity prices, including subsidies, and price de-escalation of natural gas, according to the data the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) announced on Thursday.
The consumer price index in October stood at 9.1%, from 12% in September. The last time it was in the single digits was in March 2022, namely at 8.9%. In comparison with September 2022, the decrease in the consumer price index was 1.2% in October.
At the same time, a new explosion in food prices is being observed, which significantly burdens family budgets and especially the most economically vulnerable households. Even if the de-escalation of prices in energy products continues, food prices are not expected to decrease in the immediate future.
The list of the biggest price increases this time does not include electricity but dairy products, whose price has risen by 24.2%.
Smaller increases in the price of electricity and natural gas played a decisive role in the de-escalation of inflation. Electricity, increased by 7.4% compared to a year ago, while natural gas was up by 68.4%, which is far from negligible, but certainly much smaller than the over-300% increases recorded in previous months. On the other hand, it is worth noting that among the products with the largest price increases are solid fuels (firewood, pellets etc) compared to liquid fuels, 23.3% against 17.8%, which is related to the high demand in the former.
On the other hand, the new increase in food prices, by 14.8%, dealt a strong blow to household finances and it remains to be seen in the coming months whether measures such as the “household basket” will contribute to reducing prices or even in the containment of hikes.
In addition to dairy, very large price increases were also recorded in bread/cereals (19.3%), meat (17.3%), oil (16.6%), vegetables (13.2%) and coffee/tea (13.4%).
Large price increases were also observed in other supermarket items that do not belong to the food category, such as washing detergents, stationery etc.
