Tunisia's inflation surges to 8.2% in July

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Inflation picked up again to 8.2% in July from 8.1% in June, 7.8% in May and 7.5% in April, figures released Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS) show.

This is mainly due to the accelerated rate of increase in the prices of food products (11% against 9.5% in June), furniture, household tools and cleaning products (10.6% against 9.7% in June) and prices of the leisure and culture group (7.5% against 6.3% in June), the INS said.

Food price inflation

In July 2022, food prices surged 11% on a year-on-year basis. This increase is mainly the result of prices rises for eggs (+24.2%), edible oils (+22.3%), fresh fruits (+18.6%), fresh vegetables (+19.9%) and sheepmeat (+11.9%).

Prices of manufactured goods followed suit, edging up 8.6% year-on-year driven by a rise in the prices of building materials (10.2%), clothing products (+10.4% ) and cleaning products (+7.9%).

Price hikes were seen in services (+ 5.6%) on a year-on-year basis. This is the consequence of higher prices of services in restaurants, cafés and hotels (+ 8.1%) and rents (+4.8%).

Core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) eased to 6.8% after 7.2% the previous month.

The prices of unregulated products grew 9.3% on a yearly basis. Those of regulated products posted a 4.6% rise. Unregulated food products saw a 13.1% rise compared to 0.3% for regulated food products.

Consumer prices up 8.2% over one year

Consumer prices increased 1% in July after 0.7% in June and 0.9% in May. This is closely linked to a higher growth in the prices of food and beverages (+1.9% ), furniture, household equipment and cleaning products (+1.1%), services of recreation and culture (+1.5%) and restaurants and hotels (+1.4%).

In monthly variation, food prices surged 1.9%, mainly due to higher prices of poultry (7.6%), vegetables (3.3%), sheepmeat (2.6%), edible oils (1.9%) and eggs (2.9%).

As for furniture, household tools and maintenance, prices grew 1.1% over one month. This is driven by a 1.2% rise in prices of household appliances and household textiles (+1.8%).