Notably, the price index of the group of traffic continued to be the largest contributor to the increase in the CPI, with its price index rising by 4.09% from the previous month and contributing 0.41 percentage points to the overall CPI increase. This increase was significantly higher than that of other groups of commodities and services.
Meanwhile, the price index of the group of food and catering services decreased by 0.03%, reducing the overall CPI by 0.01 percentage point. Specifically, the price index of food decreased by 0.05%, reducing the CPI by 0.01 percentage point, while the price index of foodstuff decreased by 0.04%. In contrast, the price index of meals and beverages increased by 0.01%, having no impact on the overall CPI.
The average CPI for eight months of 2026 increased by 4.45% compared with the same period of 2025. The price index of the group of housing and construction materials increased by 6.71%, contributing 1.52 percentage points to the overall CPI increase.
Core inflation in August 2026 increased by 0.11% from the previous month and by 4.55% compared with August 2025. The average core inflation rate for eight months of 2026 increased by 4.24% in comparison with the same period last year, lower than the corresponding average CPI increase of 4.55%.
The difference between core inflation and headline CPI was mainly attributable to significant fluctuation in the prices of gasoline, gas, and food, which are excluded from the basket of commodities and services used to calculate core inflation.