Cost-of-living in Cyprus remains high even though inflation has declined enough to reach April 2021 levels, according to latest data released on Thursday by the island’s Statistical Service.
In fact, food prices which are already high continue rising compared to a year ago. And this exacerbates problems for households and family budgets, Philenews reports.
Annual prices for March 2023 confirm the problem as prices of food and other supermarket items have not fallen. But, on the contrary, higher prices seem to have become embedded.
Nonetheless, inflation in Cyprus in June 2023 fell to its lowest level since April 2021, to 1.9%, from 3% in May and from 9.6% in June 2022.
In June 2021, year-on-year inflation was 3.1% compared to 2020. However, while the overall inflation index has declined markedly, the food index in June 2023 rose to 9.9% year-on-year, up from 7.8% in June 2022.
Compared to 2020, the food index in June 2021 was at -0.6%. And this indicates that food prices on average have increased by almost 19% since June 2021.
Some individual food items, however, have had much higher percentage increases over the past 24 months.
The food and non-alcoholic beverages index rose at an annualized rate of 10.1% in June 2023, up from 7.9% in June 2022, compared to June 2021.