Tunisia-Inflation picks up slightly to 6.4% in November (INS)

The inflation rate picked up slightly in November to 6.4%, from 6.3% in October and 6.2% in September, the National Institute of Statistics (French: INS) said on Sunday.

This is mainly due to the increasing pace of price increases of transport products and services (5.4% against 4.9% in October) and of education-related products and services (9.1% against 7.8% in October).

Besides, a slight slowdown was posted in the pace of the annual price rise of food products (6.9% against 7%).

The core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) rose to 6.5% from 6.3% in October.

Prices of non-administered and administered products grew by 6.3% and 6.8%, respectively.

The prices of non-administered food products also edged up 7.4%, while those of administered food products increased 4.2%.

Food prices up 6.9%, over one year

Food prices saw a 6.9% jump over one year. This is explained by the 24% rise posted in the prices of poultry, olive oil (+24.4%), eggs (+16.4%), fresh fruits (+16.1%) and fresh fish (+8.9%).

However, prices of beef and sheep meat fell respectively by 4% and 2.6%.

Likewise, prices of dried fruits dropped by 8%.

Over one year, prices of manufactured products increased by 7.6% due to the 7.8% rise in the prices of pharmaceutical products, construction materials (+13%), clothing items (8.8%) and household products (+5.9%).

As for services, prices were up 4.9% due to the 6.4% increase in prices of restaurant, coffee shops and hotels services, health services (+6.3%) and rent (+4.4%).

Consumer price index rises 0.1%, over one month

Consumer prices rose by 0.1% in November, against 0.9% in October.

This slight rise is explained by the increased prices of clothing items, furniture and household products.

On the other hand, prices of food and tobacco dropped in November.

Food prices fell by 0.6% over one month, after rising by 0.9%. This is due to the significant drop in the prices of poultry (-5.1%), fresh vegetables (-4.6%), dried fruits (-1%) and sheep meat (-0.4%).

However, prices of olive oli and fresh fruits rose by 3.4% and 0.8%, respectively.

Prices of furniture and household products saw a 0.7% rise over one month, due to the 1.6% increase in the prices of household textile items, glassware, tableware and household items (+1.1%), and prices of furniture, rugs, etc (+0.8%).