Bulgaria’s consumer prices rose 0.9% month on month in October after falling by 0.2% in each of the previous two months, the statistics office said in Wednesday.

A 10% increase in electricity prices and a rise in prices of clothing and footwear were the main reasons for the turnaround to inflation in October. The statistics office had reported deflation on a monthly basis for most of the previous nine months of the year, with the exception of July and April.

Inflation for the first 10 months of the year was also negative at -0.5%, the National Statistical Institute said in a statement.

In October 2014, consumer prices were 0.4% lower than they had been a year earlier. The NSI had reported consumer price deflation on an annual basis in both September and August (-0.8% and -0.6% respectively.)

Prices of clothing and footwear increased the most, by 6.4% month-on-month in October, followed by housing, water and electricity prices, which rose 4.3%.

Prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 0.1% in October, compared to September.

At the opposite end were the prices of healthcare services (down 0.2% month on month) and transport  (a decrease of 2.7%). Petrol prices fell 2.3% and gas prices dropped 3.4%.

Monthly inflation measured by the EU-defined harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) was 0.1% in October.

Inflation measured by HICP since the beginning of 2014 was negative (-1.8%). Annual inflation in October 2014 compared to October 2013 was also negative (-1.5%). 

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