Ukraine consumer prices jump 15.6% yoy in June
10 July 2017
Ukraine’s consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.6% m/m (15.6% yoy) in June, led by a 3.3% m/m growth in food prices, the State Statistics Service reported on July 7. In May, CPI increased 1.3% m/m (13.5% yoy).
The June’s growth in food prices was driven by eggs (18.4% m/m), vegetables (16.4% m/m) and fruits (13.5% m/m). Disinflation occurred in utility prices (0.5% m/m vs. 0.8% m/m in May), as well as healthcare prices (0.5% m/m vs. 0.7% m/m in May). Prices for clothing and footwear deepened the decline (-2.5% m/m vs. -1.0% m/m in May).
Alexander Paraschiy: We are used to observing seasonal deflation in the summer months but cold weather pushed prices for foods and vegetables higher. The June price growth far exceeded our expectations, which means that our initial full-year inflation forecast is not valid anymore. Even if prices cool off in July, we will see CPI increasing at least 11.8% YTD (14.0% yoy) in 2017 from the 9.0% YTD growth (12.4% yoy) we estimated initially.
