Year-on-year, prices slowed further for non-food products (7.0 percent vs 7.4 percent in August), of which clothing & footwear (6.1 percent vs 6.6 percent); transport (8.7 percent vs 10.2 percent); furnishings (5.6 percent vs 6.1 percent); alcoholic beverages & tobacco (12.2 percent sv 12.9 percent); restaurants & hotels (4.2 percent vs 4.8 percent). Meanwhile, cost rose faster for housing & utilities (10 percent vs 9.9 percent), on the back of recent electricity and water tariffs hikes; health (5.5 percent vs 5.4 percent) and recreation & culture (7.5 percent vs 7.4 percent). At the same time, inflation was steady for education (at 2.7 percent).
On the other hand, food inflation picked up (8.5 percent vs 8.2 percent), mainly pushed up by fruits & nuts (26.9 percent); coffee and coffee substitutes (15.3 percent); cocoa drinks (14.8 percent); fruit & vegetable juices (11.4 percent); cereals & cereal products (9.9 percent) and vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses (8.9 percent).
On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent.