(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Ulviyya Shahin Read more
During January–March 2024, Azerbaijan witnessed a mere 1% risein prices, with a concurrent decline in food prices, as reported bythe State Statistics Committee for the same period.
According to the committee's findings, prices in the country sawa 1% increase during the initial three months of 2024 compared tothe corresponding period in 2023.
Notably, the collective cost of food items, beverages, andtobacco products experienced a reduction of 0.3%.
Conversely, non-food items saw a 1.4% increase in price, whilethe cost of services offered to the public rose by 2.5% during thistime frame.
So, what is the reason for the decrease in food prices? Can thistrend continue?
Speaking to Azernews, economist Natig Jafarlysaid that the weakening of inflation in Azerbaijan has been quitenoticeable since the beginning of the year as a tendency.
“But people don't guess it in the published figures. That's whywe need a new rule. We proposed these new rules in our publicspeeches. Those rules exist in many countries. It is about the factthat a large part of the population in Azerbaijan uses dailynecessities, about thirty products. In our case, inflationindicators are calculated for more than 500 products. Something newneeds to be done here. Inflation of 30 items or products of dailydemand (fruits, vegetables, rice, buckwheat, butter, chicken meat,eggs) should be calculated separately. If the inflation of 30products of daily demand is calculated separately, it will showthis picture more clearly. For example, there are citrus fruits,avocados, and other products at inflationary prices whose pricechanges do not affect people that much. But changes in the price ofpotatoes, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, buckwheat, pasta products,etc. affect people more.
“Therefore, in parallel with this inflation, it would be betterif the inflation of 30 items of daily necessities is calculatedseparately and the price changes there are also taken intoaccount,” the economist noted.
Further to comments on the issue, according to economist KhalidKarimli, the main reason for the decrease in prices is related tothe processes occurring in the world market.
“There is a food price index announced monthly by the Food andAgriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and this food priceindex is 9.9% lower in March 2024 compared to March 2023. That is,it means that food prices in March of this year are 9.9% cheapercompared to March of last year. This also allows us to say thatcertain price decreases continue to be observed in Azerbaijan.”
Karimli noted that looking at the recent months, especiallyMarch, we see that there are certain increases as well.
“Particularly, minor increases are observed in vegetable oilsand dairy products. There is a decrease compared to last year, butcertain increases are visible in March compared to the last one ortwo months, looking at the structure of the goods, forexample, the price of meat seems to continue to rise. For example,chocolate products will become more expensive.”
“So, while some goods are becoming more expensive, others arebecoming cheaper. In general, we have witnessed a decrease ofaround 9.9-10% in the past year. I expect this kind of decrease tocontinue gradually rather than sharply. The Central Bank predictsan inflation rate of 5-5.5% in Azerbaijan for this year. This islower compared to previous years, but overall, it is not expectedthat prices will decrease. In 2024, inflation is expected to occuragain in the country. This will also have an impact on foodprices,” he concluded.
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