Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINE’S INFLATION SLOWS TO 0.7% IN APRIL

7 May , 2021  

Consumer prices in Ukraine at the end of April 2021 year-over-year slowed down from 8.5% to 8.4% at the end of March.
The State Statistics Service said on Friday, that inflation fell to 0.7% in April from 1.7% in March, 1% in February and 1.3% in January.
In addition, the State Statistics Service in April 2021 recorded core inflation at 0.7%, which is also lower than the previous month (1.6%).
In general, for the first four months of 2021, inflation in Ukraine amounted to 4.8%, core inflation to 3.1%.
In the consumer market in April, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 1.2%. Sunflower oil rose in price most of all (by 10%). Prices for sugar, processed grain products, rice, bread, meat and meat products, pasta rose by 5.0% to 1.0%. At the same time, vegetables, fruits, eggs and milk fell in price by 1.3% to 0.5%.
Prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products increased by 0.9%, was mainly due to a 1.5% rise in prices for tobacco products.
The rise in prices (tariffs) for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 0.4% was mainly due to a 2.3% rise in prices for natural gas.
Transport prices increased by 0.6%, primarily due to the rise in the cost of travel in railway and road passenger transport by 2.6% and 1.4%, respectively, and fuel and oils by 0.8%.
The Ukrainian government expects inflation of 7.3% in 2021, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) some 8%. According to the NBU, the peak of the inflationary surge at about 9.6% will occur in the third quarter of 2021, and in autumn inflation will start to decline. Inflation will return to the target range of 5% ± 1 percentage points (p.p.) in the first half of 2022, where it will remain in the future, the National Bank said.