Belstat reports second month of deflation

December 9, BPN. Consumer prices for goods and services fell by 1.1 percent in November compared to October, but rose by 12.4 percent compared to December 2021, the statistics committee Belstat said. The year-on-year increase was 13.3 percent.

Food prices fell by 0.6 percent in November. Prices for non-food products fell by 2.2 percent.

Services fell by 0.4 percent last month.

Belstat has been reporting deflation for two month in a row. In October, consumer prices for goods and services fell by 1 percent compared to September (13.61 percent up compared to December 2021; 15.2 percent up from October 2021).

Łukašenka signed a directive to freeze consumer prices on October 6, in a bid to curb galloping inflation. He demanded that any price increases should be authorized by the state. On October 10, has said the freeze was only a short-term measure.

On October 19, the government introduced profit margin caps to control prices for 370 items, removing some of them from the list a week later.