Inflation in Ukraine was pushed up by last year's crop failures and rising prices for alcohol and tobacco, but there are signs of a slowdown and it is expected to fall to a single-digit level by the end of the year, the NBU said, UNN writes.
The acceleration of inflation in April was largely due to the residual effects of last year's poor harvests and further increases in prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. Pro-inflationary factors remained high labor costs for businesses in the face of staff shortages and strong consumer demand
Fuel price increases have slowed - NBU13.05.25, 12:00
Instead, the NBU's measures to maintain a stable situation in the foreign exchange market and interest in hryvnia savings, as stated, "limited price increases." The National Bank said that the decline in world oil prices, as well as the weakening of price pressure in the domestic wholesale electricity market, had an additional impact.
However, as noted in the NBU, although the growth of consumer prices in April continued, "there were also signs of weakening price pressure." "Actual indicators of both overall and core inflation in April were slightly lower than the NBU forecast. The monthly dynamics of inflation, adjusted for seasonality, also indicated a weakening of price pressure," the regulator said.
According to the NBU forecast, inflation should return to a downward trajectory in the summer and slow down to a single-digit level by the end of the year