The most stable components of inflation recorded a strong increase in June. According to information from the Bank of Albania, core inflation, net core inflation, and inflation excluding food and energy goods increased simultaneously and to a similar extent, indicating that price pressures remain high, even beyond the short-term effect of the oil price hike.

Central Bank figures show that annual core inflation rose to 3.54%, up from 3.15% the previous month. Core inflation also remains on the rise compared to the same period in 2025, when it was 2.69%. Core inflation has reached its highest level since October 2023.

Core inflation remained above the level of total inflation in the economy in June, which, according to INSTAT figures, reached 3.2%.

The sub-basket that measures core inflation is calculated on a group of products and services that constitute 69.8% of the total Consumer Price Index basket. Core inflation excludes products that are inherently highly volatile, such as food and energy.

The main purpose of calculating core inflation is to strip the overall increase in prices of a shorter-term nature. Core inflation is an important indicator for understanding longer-term price trends and is therefore continuously monitored by the Bank of Albania.

In parallel with core inflation, net core inflation also increased in similar proportions. For June, this indicator reached 4.03%, up from 3.6% in May and significantly higher than the 2.45% recorded a year earlier.

Net core inflation further excludes processed food subgroups (including bread and cereals) from inflation and is measured over 49% of the CPI basket.

Meanwhile, inflation excluding all food and energy products in June 2026 increased to 3.94%, up from 3.54% in May and 2.38% a year earlier.

The above data show that the price increase is not only related to the fluctuation of oil prices, caused mainly by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Inflationary pressures in the Albanian economy have a more stable base, which makes an increase in interest rates more likely in the near future, Monitor reported on Thursday.

At this month's Supervisory Council meeting, the Bank of Albania decided to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 2.5%.