Kazakhstan: Inflation drops in August
Inflation ticked down to 8.4% in August from July’s 8.5%, though remaining entrenched above the Central Bank’s 5.0% medium-term target. According to the preliminary release, price pressures accelerated for non-food goods, outweighing a softer increase in prices for services. Meanwhile, food price inflation was unchanged from July.
Accordingly, the trend pointed down, with annual average inflation falling to 9.4% in August (July: 9.7%).
Finally, consumer prices rose 0.52% from the previous month in August, a smaller increase than July’s 0.74% rise.
Goldman Sachs’ Basak Edizgil and Clemens Grafe commented:
“We expect headline inflation to edge down in the coming months with risks to the upside from the ongoing energy tariff hikes, further Tenge weakness and loosening of fiscal policy. We think that the risks to our forecast of continued monetary easing by the NBK for the remainder of the year are to the upside.”