According to data from the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), inflation in February dropped to 1.9%, compared to 2.6% in the same period last year. However, this overall decline has not been reflected in food prices, which continued to rise, reaching 2.8%, up from 2.6% in January. Food and essential products remain the main drivers of inflationary pressure, directly impacting citizens’ purchasing power.<\/p>\n
In addition to food, alcohol and tobacco prices have also increased significantly, rising to 4.5%, up from 3.9%. Similarly, the entertainment and culture sector saw a notable increase, reaching 6.5% from 5.7%.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, transportation costs registered a -2.2% decline in inflation, mainly due to lower fuel prices, although a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points has been recorded since January.<\/p>\n
Housing costs, water, and electricity prices have also declined, dropping to 0.4% from 0.9%, a significantly lower level compared to the same period last year, when they stood at 2.4%. These expenses account for a substantial portion of Albanian household budgets.<\/p>\n
Despite low inflation, experts predict a moderate increase in the coming months due to low interest rates and a slight recovery of the euro against the lek, gradually steering inflation toward the Bank of Albania’s 3% target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to data from the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), inflation in February dropped to 1.9%, compared to 2.6% in the same period last year. However, this overall decline has not been reflected in food prices, which continued to rise, reaching 2.8%, up from 2.6% in January. Food and essential products remain the main drivers of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[915,485,243,151,796],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n