In January, 2018 inflation had stable tendency

According to the Agency of Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, in January, 2018 the inflation rate amounted 0.4% month-on-month (MoM).

This level of inflation was anticipated and mainly driven by the increase in prices for services by 2.9%MoM. In particular, the growth in prices for services occurred was mainly due to the seasonal raise in the cost of airline tickets (international flight Dushanbe - Moscow) by 82.2% MoM.

At the same time, during this period there has been relatively stable change in prices fornon-food products having increased by 0.1% MoM and the decline in foodprices by 0.1% MoM. Out of non-food productss, prices for petrol rose by 1.1% MoM, while the decline in food prices was mainly due to deceleration of prices for flour by 1.0% MoM, as well as the meat and meat products by 0.4% MoM.

As a result, the contribution of changes in consumer prices in the structure of inflation in month-on-month basis was as follows: paid services to the population 0.44 percentage points, non-food products 0.03 percentage points. The contribution of food products was negative -0.06 percentage points, respectively.

The annual inflation (over the last 12 months) in January reached 6.5%, dropped by 0.2 percentage points to compare with December, 2017. This level corresponds to the medium-term target of the National Bank of Tajikistan set at the level of 7% (± 2%) per annum (see the diagram).

The NBT using its monetary and exchange rate policy tools primarily the refinancing rate aims to conduct a transparent and prudent monetary policy directed on regulation of liquidity and prices for elimination of inflationary pressures and consequently on achievement of inflation targeted level.

Diagram: annual inflation, in %