2024-09-18 13:41:36
Oil rises in price for the first time since the summer of 2022.
Inflation in our country persists and the annual rate is still above 2% even in August – a month in which usually many goods and services become cheaper. This year though
prices rose by 0.1 percent in the eighth month
compared to July, and hence annual inflation is 2.1%. This is mainly due to food, cigarettes, alcohol and the many goods and services related to recreation and entertainment.
Citrus fruits, for example, rose in price by 8% in just one month, and fruits in general rose by 2.5% on a monthly basis – something that has not happened almost since the beginning of the year and is generally not typical for August.
Another thing happened this summer – coffee, cocoa and chocolate products began to increase in price at an accelerated rate. The reason – the coffee harvest in Vietnam, which is one of the largest producers in the world, has been wasted due to dry weather. Climate change has also affected the cocoa crop in West Africa, where it accounts for over 60% of the world’s output. The increase in the price of these two crops started in May, and is currently at its peak, which has unusually quickly reached Bulgaria, causing prices to rise by 3.5% in August alone (see the infographic).
Another thing happened in August that the market had long forgotten – for the first time since the summer of 2022, oil rose in price, and by 2.1% in just one month. This is undoubtedly related to the information that the hot summer has ruined the sunflowers, although it is too early to predict as the crop is harvested in September.
In August, there is also a visible increase in the prices of services related to recreation and entertainment, but this is typical for August, as well as a certain decrease in hotel prices and the increase in the price of international flights and dining establishments. But the main fuels apparently continue to become cheaper – in August
their prices fell by another 1.9%
compared to July, and in mid-September, mainstream gasoline and ordinary diesel fell below BGN 2.50 per liter.
Regardless of the strange movements of some prices, Bulgaria continues to have a relatively good position against the backdrop of August inflation data in the EU. It is currently around the EU average of 2.2% for annual inflation, with 11 countries where price growth is lower.
However, the result is not sufficient to meet the price stability criterion for entry into the Eurozone. According to the spring forecast of the Ministry of Finance, by the end of this year, annual inflation in our country should reach 2.3%, but calculated according to the harmonized index, according to which it was 2.4% in August. At the same time, the forecast for wage growth in our country for this year indicates that it will outpace inflation by about two times.
In Bulgaria, however, there is a very large share – 18%, of the population that lives with severe material and social deprivation, and this puts us in second place after Romania, where this share is 19.8%. The EU average is 6.8%, according to Eurostat data for 2023 published on Monday.
In Bulgaria, however, a slight improvement is observed
compared to the previous year – by 0.7 percentage points, while the average indicator for the EU increased in one year by 0.1 points.
This is the share of households that cannot meet unexpected expenses, pay for a seven-day holiday a year away from home, take on mortgage or rent arrears.