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Quarantine regime in Azerbaijan gave impetus to disinflation trends - Accounts Chamber

Finance Materials 6 January 2021 17:16 (UTC +04:00)
Quarantine regime in Azerbaijan gave impetus to disinflation trends - Accounts Chamber

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.6

By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:

The continuous weakening of total demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic prevented accelerating of inflation in Azerbaijan, and the quarantine regime gave impetus to disinflation tendencies, the Accounts Chamber stated in its opinion for the country’s 2021 state budget, Trend reports.

According to the chamber, the sharp change in behavior of consumers in the tense medical conditions has minimized expectations that social package measures adopted at the end of 2019 stimulate price growth by recovering demand in 2020. So, the average annual inflation recorded as of early November 2020 was 2.8 percent, and the food group became the main driving force behind the rise in prices. In contrast to non-food products, food prices rose 5.1 percent compared to the same period of 2019, ranking first in terms of growth among subgroups in the consumer basket.

“The main reasons for the growth in food, drinks and tobacco prices can be attributed not only to the recovery of demand for this group of products during the quarantine period but also to a global price growth for this segment,” noted the chamber. “Food prices, which began to decline since February 2020, rebounded by 2.3 percent in June month on month and by 5.6 percent year on year.”

As earlier reported referring to the State Statistical Committee, as of early December 2020, the inflation rate in Azerbaijan was estimated at 2.8 percent, including 5 percent for food products, 1.3 percent for non-food products, and 1 percent for services.

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