Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Khalilova / According to the National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA), in March 2007, the average annual inflation rate was 16.6%.
The growth rate of consumer price index was 1.2% compared to February, 9.3% compared to January 2007 and 16.4% compared to March 2006.
During the month, the food prices went up 1.8%, non-food products 0.6% and services 0.3%.
According to the econometric model of the National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA), in March 2007 the share of monetary factors in the formation of inflation made up 10.5%.
Non-monetary factors had a significant influence on the inflation rate (89.5%). Therefore, the supply of goods and services made a lower impact on the inflation by 3.7%. The administrative prices caused a direct increase of inflation by 33.8%, the indirect impact on inflation was 29.1% and seasonal factors 22.9%.
In March the influence of seasonal factors was significant. The seasonal rise in prices of some products led to an increase of CPI by 0.6%. The seasonal factors are related to a rise in administrative prices and the increase of consumer demand which was caused by fiscal expansion.
In January to March the share of foods in the formation of inflation made up 47.7%. The share of bread and bakery foods - 5.3%, meat and meet foods - 4.6%, fruits and vegetables - 33.7%, oil and fat - 2.6%, milk and eggs - 0.4%, sugar, tea - 1.5%, alcohol and tobacco - 0.3%. In this period, the share of nonfoods in the formation of the inflation rate was 15.4%, services - 37%.
In March inflation in the trade sector constituted 1.4% compared to February and 14.6% compared to March 2006. The CPI in the trade sector was 0.3% and 19.5% respectively.
In March consumer price index dropped 0.9%. However, the growth rate was 2.9% compared to January 2007 and 7.6% compared to March 2006. Production prices in non-oil sector reduced 0.4%, 74.3%, 80.4% and 80% respectively.