Inflation was 6.9% y/y and 0.8% m/m in October 2019
Annual CPI inflation was 6.9% in October 2019 up from 6.4% in previous month, according to Geostat. Core inflation (non-food, non-energy, non-tobacco) came in at 3.4% up from 3.2% compared to the previous month. Annual price changes were driven by price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (+13.5% y/y, +4.02ppts), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+13.8% y/y, +0.92ppts), recreation and culture (+7.3% y/y, +0.41ppts) and transport (+3.0% y/y, +0.36ppts) categories, while prices were down in clothing and footwear (-5.9% y/y, -0.21ppts). On a monthly basis, there was 0.8% inflation in October 2019. Price increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages (+1.6% m/m, +0.5ppts) and clothing and footwear (+5.9% m/m, +0.18ppts) were the major drivers of monthly inflation dynamics.
International reserves stood at US$ 3.4bn in October 2019
Gross international reserves were up 9.4% y/y to US$ 3.4bn in October 2019, according to NBG. On a monthly basis, reserves were down 6.0% (-US$ 216mn). There were no FX interventions in October and monthly decline in reserves is explained by a 5pp reduction in reserve requirement on banking sector FX deposits.
