Page 23 - UKRRptOct20

sugar (-0.9% m/m). At the same time, prices for eggs climbed 3.4% m/m, and for meat inched up 1.0% m/m. Prices for clothing and footwear continued to slide, losing 3.0% m/m in August (after falling 4.8% m/m in July).
Prices for housing and utilities jumped 5.7% m/m (vs. a 1.4% m/m increase in July) due to a leap in natural gas prices by 37.7% m/m. Prices for transportation climbed another 1.2% m/m in August after the same monthly growth in the prior month, being driven by increasing prices for fuel.
The continuing decline of prices for food and clothing was strong enough to offset a huge monthly increase of gas prices caused by global energy price growth. Food prices continued to decline amid a seasonal increase in the supply of fruits and vegetables.
Meanwhile, the further slide in prices of clothing and footwear implies that Ukrainian consumers are not likely to intensify their expenditures for non-staples as the overall economic decline is ongoing.
We expect consumer inflation will accelerate to 5.5% YTD in 2020 (vs. 4.1% YTD in 2019).
23​ UKRAINE Country Report​ October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com