March 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's consumer prices grew by 3.3% year-on-year in February, following a 3.8% annual rise in January, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on Thursday.
In monthly comparison terms, consumer prices went up 0.3% last month after a climb of 0.5% in January, NSI said in a monthly report.
Compared to the previous month, prices in February increased the most in transport, by 1.5%, and restaurants and hotels with a 0.9% rise. In contrast, monthly price declines were recorded in clothing and footwear, at 2.5%, furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, at 0.6%, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, at 0.1%.
Bulgaria's inflation rate since the beginning of the year amounted to 0.8%, while the average annual inflation for the past 12 months was 7.4%, NSI data showed.
Annual inflation under the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which allows comparison on the same terms among all EU member states, decelerated to 3.5% in February from 3.9% in January. On a monthly comparison basis, EU-harmonised consumer prices edged up 0.3% last month after adding 0.1% in January.