The Central Bank also sees impact of electricity, gas and water hikes on inflation

The Central Bank (CB) stated that the most significant contributor to inflation came from energy prices, and that the annual increase in inflation spread across subgroups. MB announced yesterday that January’s inflation was 48.69 percent. The figure is also the highest for the period close to 20 years.

High energy prices lead to higher inflation as shown in the evaluation report: “With the increase in international oil prices and developments in items such as electricity, natural gas, mains water, energy inflation has significantly increased. Annual energy inflation has risen by 33.45 points in January to 76.38 percent.”

The assessment regarding impact of exchange rates and the effects of the pandemic is as follows: “While exchange rates showed a stable outlook in January, commodity prices showed a strong increase again after the decline due to the Omicron variant.”