Inflation in Kazakhstan: Slowdown in average annual growth and price increases
The Bureau of National Statistics' latest data report showed annual inflation in 2024 amounted to 8.6%, slowing down from 9.8% in 2023. However, significant price increases were recorded in a number of segments of the economy, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
Prices for paid services increased by 13.3%, and by 8.3% for non-food products, in addition to 5.5% for food products. Among services, the most noticeable price increases were observed for cold water (+43.1%), cellular communications (+27%), rail transport (+24.9%) and heating (+22.3%).
The electronics segment also saw an increases: laptops rose in price by 67.3%, wireless headphones by 55.2%, USB flash drives by 54.9%, and tablets by 45.7%.
In the food category, significant price increases were recorded for potatoes (+37.7%), sweet peppers (+25.5%), and olive oil (+23%). At the same time, some products saw a decrease in pricing: buckwheat prices fell by 21.4%, carrots became cheaper by 8.7%, sugar by 3.2%, rice by 2.9%, and cabbage by 1.7%.
As for regional differences, the highest inflation was recorded in Astana, where the annual rate was 10.7%, which is 2.1% higher than the national average. In second and third place are Karaganda region (9.6%) and North Kazakhstan region (9.3%). The lowest rates of price growth were observed in Almaty region (6.6%), Zhambyl (7.0%) and Pavlodar (7.4%) regions.
The consumer price index in December 2024 compared to November was 0.9%. During this period, prices for food products increased by 1.1%, for non-food products and paid services - by 0.8%. In annual terms, the growth in prices for food products was 5.5%, for non-food products - 8.3%, and for paid services - 13.3%.
Read more detailed inflation forecasts in Kazakhstan for 2025 in the analytics of the Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
