International arrivals up 14.7% y/y in May 2015
Tourist arrivals posted a significant jump of 14.7% y/y to 454,545 persons in May 2015, after a slight increase of 0.4% y/y in April 2015, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As a result, in 5M15 tourist arrivals increased by 2.0% y/y. Significantly increased arrivals from Armenia (+33.1% y/y, 23.4% of total), Azerbaijan (+8.7% y/y, 20.8% of total), and Russia (+42.5% y/y, 15.7% of total) were the major contributors to growth in May. Tourist arrivals from the EU increased by 6.7% y/y in May 2015.
Inflation rate at 3.5% y/y and 0.6% m/m in May 2015
Annual inflation was recorded at 3.5% in May 2015, according to GeoStat. Overall price changes were driven by price increases on food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.9% y/y, +1.19ppts), health (+6.6% y/y, +0.64ppts), and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+11.9% y/y, +0.62ppts), while prices in the transport group decreased by 3.2% y/y (-0.38ppts).
The monthly inflation rate was 0.6% in May 2015. Price increases on transport (+3.0% m/m, +0.34ppts) and health (+1.3% m/m, +0.13ppts), and price drops in the food and non-alcoholic beverages category (-0.6% m/m, -0.18ppts) were the major drivers of monthly inflation dynamics.
Gross international reserves stood at US$ 2.39bn end-May 2015
Gross international reserves stood at US$ 2.39bn (-1.5% m/m) and net foreign assets of NBG stood at US$ 2.16bn (-1.6% m/m) as of end-May 2015, according to NBG.
