Inflation in Ukraine in October 2010 will not exceed 0.4-0.5%, after a surge of 2.9% in September 2010, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said at a meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Kyiv on Friday.
"The government was somewhat worried about the higher inflation seen in September, which was caused by a rise in prices on the market, rather than expenses or monetary factors. [But] inflation will not exceed 0.4-0.5% in October, [and] this year it will not exceed 10%," reads a statement posted on the Web site of the Ukrainian government, quoting the prime minister.
According to the report, IMF Mission Chief Thanos Arvanitis in turn said that an increased level of inflation in the country in September this year is a temporary phenomenon, as a trend towards a decrease in underlying inflation in the country has clearly shaped out nowadays.
As reported, consumer prices in Ukraine, which grew by 1.2% in August 2010, rose by 2.9% in September 2010, and from January through September 2010 inflation in the country totalled 7.4%. Earlier, the government forecasted a certain slowdown in inflation in 2010 - to 12% from 12.3% last year.
Underlying inflation in Ukraine in September 2010 accelerated to 1.5%, from 0.6% in August: Underlying inflation has hit 5.5% since the beginning of the year.
Underlying (or core) inflation does not include short-term irregular changes in prices influenced by various factors of an administrative, event-based or seasonal character. For instance, it does not include changes in the price of food and energy. The State Statistics Committee started calculating underlying inflation at the beginning of 2008.
