Albania’s annual inflation accelerated for the third month running in September, to 2.5%, statistics office Instat said on October 8. Month on month, consumer prices rose by 0.5%, also accelerating from previous months. 

Rising food and fuel prices, part of a global phenomenon as economies recover from the coronacrisis, have sparked protests in recent days, with demonstrators calling on the government to intervene. 

Higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages were the primary driver of year-on-year inflation in September. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages shot up by 4.6% y/y in September, pushing annual inflation up by +1.60 pp. 

This included a sharp 13.6% y/y increase in prices of vegetables such as potatoes, followed by oil and fats (up 6.6%), bread and cereals (4.7%), fruit (4.1%), sugar, jam honey, syrup, chocolates and sweets (3.3%) and dairy products (2.2%).

There was also a 4.5% rise in transport prices, which contributed +0.24 pp to the overall inflation rate. 

Other sectors that recorded robust y/y price rises in September were communication (up by 3.0% y/y), recreation and culture (2.1%), clothing and footwear (1.9%), hotels, coffee houses and restaurants (1.7%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (1.5%). 

The only area where prices fell y/y was miscellaneous goods and services, down by 0.1%.

In monthly terms, the biggest increase was also for food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as clothing and footwear (both up 1.8%).