CPI fall 0.7% in July, up 2.2% on the year

TIRANA, August 10؁lbania’s July consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.7% month-on-month, after decreasing by a monthly 0.6% in June, the National Statistics Office, INSTAT, said on Monday.
On an annual basis, the country’s consumer price inflation slowed down to 2.2% in July from 2.3% in June.
The monthly CPI decrease in July was mainly due to a 11% fall in the prices of vegetables, and a 2.1% decrease in bread and wheat products prices, INSTAT data showed.
The annual rise in consumer prices was mainly due to a 26.8% increase in the prices of vegetables and an 8.8% rise in fish prices. Prices of books went up by 32.1%.
The country’s CPI reached 101.8 points in July compared to its base of 100 points in December 2007.In July 2008 consumer prices fell by 0.6% on the month and were 3.7% higher on the year.