Albanian inflation in December was 7.5% as measured by Eurostat, which was slightly higher than the national rate of 7.4% in the same month.
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The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, on the other hand, experienced 6.6% annual growth in 2022.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages saw the largest price increase, 13.0%, followed by "Transport" with 7.5%, "Furniture, home appliances, and maintenance" with 6.6%, "Alcoholic beverages" and tobacco" with 5.1%, and "Clothing and shoes" with 4.9 percent, as Monitor informs.
Additionally, there were increases in the categories "Hotels, cafes, and restaurants" (up 4.5 percent), "Miscellaneous goods and services" (up 3.8 percent), "Rent, water, fuel, and energy" (up 3.6 percent), "Educational service" (up 3.5 percent), "Health" (up 2.4 percent), "Entertainment and culture" (up 1.5 percent), and "Communication" (up 1.1 percent).
The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices measured a 0.4% monthly change in December alone.
The price increase of 1.3% in the category "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" was the primary driver of this shift. It was followed by increases of 0.5% in the categories "Clothing and shoes," "Entertainment and culture," and "Educational service," respectively, and 0.3 percent each in the categories "Furniture, home appliances, and maintenance," "Communication," 0.2 percent, "Alcoholic beverages and tobacco," and "Health."
In contrast, the prices of the group "Transport" decreased by 1.5%, followed by the prices of "Rent, water, fuel, and energy," which decreased by 0.2 percent, and "Miscellaneous goods and services," which decreased by 0.1 percent.
The EU's countries with the lowest inflation rates in December were France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, and Norway. On the other hand, the countries with inflation rates above 20% were Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic.