Inflation, which measures the change in prices for a certain basket of consumer goods, remained at 1.9% during February. It continues to decline compared to the level of 2.6% a year earlier.

INSTAT data show that, however, the inflation performance shows opposite trends for different groups of goods and services.

Food inflation increased again during February and reached 2.8%, up from 2.6% in January. Inflation in the group “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” is even slightly higher than a year earlier, when it was at 2.7%.

Food inflation remains the main driver of inflationary pressures in the economy and contributed approximately one percentage point, compared to total inflation of 1.9%.

Further increases were also recorded in the inflation of the group “Alcoholic beverages and tobacco”, to 4.5%, from 3.9% in January and 3.7% a year earlier. This group contributed more than 0.2 percentage points to total inflation during February.

Further increases in inflation were also recorded in the group “Entertainment and culture”, which reached 6.5%, from 5.7% in January and 4.9% a year earlier.

Inflation in the “Transport” group remains in negative values, mainly due to the decline in fuel prices, but with an upward trend to 2.2%, from 2.5% in January.

However, inflation in this group remains on the decline from 1.9% a year ago and remains one of the main contributors to the reduction in inflation in the economy.

The balancing of inflation at 1.9% in February came mainly thanks to the downward trend in the “Clothing and footwear”, “Rent, water, fuel, energy” and “Furniture, household appliances, and home maintenance” groups.

Inflation for the “Clothing and footwear” group fell to 2.8%, from 3.3% in January and 3.4% a year ago.

Inflation for the group “Rent, water, fuel, energy” fell to 0.4%, from 0.9% in January and 2.4% a year earlier.

Inflation for the group “Furniture, household appliances and home maintenance” fell to 3.6%, from 3.9% in January and 4.7% in February last year.

Statistics show that, although in average terms inflation is stable and below the Bank of Albania’s target, the performance of different groups shows opposite trends and volatility.

The Central Bank predicts that during 2025 inflation will increase slightly towards the target of 3%, influenced by lower interest rates and a softening of the lek’s appreciation in the exchange rate.