OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Core inflation starts 2024 on the decline, down to 2.9 percent

2024-02-20 11:56:04Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Core inflation starts 2024 on the decline, down to 2.9 percent

Core inflation started 2024 with further declines and fell to the lowest level in two years.

According to the calculations of the Bank of Albania, for the month of January, the basic annual inflation decreased to 2.9%, from 3.2% that had been in December and 8.74% that had been in January last year. Core inflation fell for the eleventh month in a row and hit the lowest level since February 2022.

While the inflation of the entire basket of consumer prices also fell in January, at the level of 3.4%, core inflation has been confirmed at lower levels, even below the target of the central bank.

Core inflation is an indicator calculated by the Bank of Albania over 69.2% of the general basket of the Consumer Price Index. Core inflation measures the change in consumer prices, excluding products that by their nature have high volatility, mainly food and energy products. The purpose of core inflation is to strip overall price growth of the effects of supply shocks or other factors with short-term impact.

Core inflation is performing even better than expected and in theory this signals a reduction in sustained inflationary pressures in the economy. So far, the numbers are moving in the right direction and seem to support the line followed by the Bank of Albania not to raise interest rates further. The basic interest rate in Albania remains at 3.25%, one of the lowest levels in Europe.

However, despite the encouraging signals from inflation and especially the basic one, in the last monetary policy report published last week, the Bank of Albania estimated that the risks of price increases in the Albanian economy appear to be increasing.

According to the Monetary Policy Report, in particular the new pressures for increasing oil and food prices in the presence of regional conflicts present new risks for a higher global inflation but also for the emergence of second round effects in the form of growth of inflationary expectations.

Parallel to them, the pressures from the internal labor market in Albania may turn out to be stronger and more stable, pushing up the projected trajectory of inflation.

According to the Bank of Albania, employment has continued to grow and the unemployment rate has fallen, while the production, labor and capacity utilization gaps remain positive. The tight labor market has continued to drive wage growth in the private sector.

In accordance with the analysis and forecasts above, the Supervisory Council at the meeting on February 7 decided to keep the basic interest rate unchanged. However, in the statement, the Council emphasized that the persistence of internal inflationary pressures and the risks of upside inflation require continuous monitoring of the situation and timely response from monetary policy, to guarantee compliance with the objective of price stability.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×