BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 26
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Annual inflation will be around 7 percent in Georgia in 2021, said Eva Bochorishvili, Head of Galt & Taggart's Research Department, Trend reports via Georgian media.
According to Bochorishvili, the price increase is mainly due to the depreciation of the lari exchange rate, surging prices on the world market, and increased utility bills.
She notes that it is necessary to curb inflation because inflation of 7.2 percent recorded in March is quite high.
"The pressure on prices comes from the exchange rate and this is very important. Commodity prices are also rising on the world market and the increase in utility bills has an impact as well," Bochorishvili added.
As she noted, when a business is operating amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an additional expense and that is reflected on the final price. Inflation was very high in March and amounted to 7.2 percent.
"We think this trend will continue in the coming period. At this point, our forecast is that the average annual inflation will be within 7 percent, which is quite high. The previous forecast was 4.5-5 percent. It is very important to curb inflation and we expect that at the next meeting the National Bank will have to tighten monetary policy," said Bochorishvili.
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