KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s consumer inflation rose to 8.6% year-on-year in September driven by rising energy prices, higher business costs, and a lower harvest, the statistics service said on Thursday.
Inflation was 7.5% year-on-year in August. The statistics service said in a statement that monthly inflation was at 1.5% in September.
The statistics data showed that September inflation was driven by a rise in utilities tariffs and higher electricity prices. Ukraine’s power sector is in crisis due to intensified Russian bombardments of the energy infrastructure.
Frequent Russian missile and drone attacks have knocked out about half of Ukraine’s energy-generating capacity since March and caused long blackouts across the country forcing businesses to rely on more expensive electricity from generators.
The government was also forced to increase retail electricity prices to fund a massive power sector repair campaign ahead of the critical cold months. Electricity prices were up by 63.6% in September year-on-year, the statistics service said.
The statistics service also said that food prices were up by 8.5% in September compared with the same month a year ago due to a lower harvest this year.
Ukraine’s central bank expects inflation to be at 8.5% at the end of 2024 and drop to 6.6% by the end of 2025.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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