Inflation rate hits 5-year high

TIRANA, Feb. 8 – Albania’s inflation rate hit a five-year high of 2.8 percent last January fuelled by a hike in fuel and liquid gas prices and one of the coldest months in three decades paralyzing the country and causing huge damage to greenhouse crops. A report published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, shows the January inflation rate, which is only 0.2 percent below the central bank’s target, was triggered by a 5.8 percent hike in food and alcoholic beverage prices, the key item in the consumer basket. Within this group, food prices rose by 6.2 percent while…