Consumer Price Index shows slight increase for October

TIRANA, Nov.8 – Albania’s National Statistics Office (INSTAT) reported new data on Wednesday, according to which consumer prices increased by 0.1 percent month-on-month in October. September had already recorded a rise of 0.6percent. Compared to last year’s figures, the October consumer prices rose by 2.2percent, slower than the 2.6percent increase recorded in September. The highest figure reported was that of October 2005, amounting to 3.3percent annual growth. Given the data breakdown, the industries that reported higher prices for the consumer were spirits, tobacco, clothing, shoes, culture, catering and hospitality. The highest figure was in education which recorded a rise of 4.8 percent. Given the boom in private higher education, the figure is explainable. Few industries recorded opposite values. Thus transportation and healthcare reported a slight decrease. The lowest price drops were in the field of communications. The general inflation estimate for this year is 3 percent.