Inflation slows to 0.7 percent in August

Wednesday, 16 September 2009 15:01 Steve Finch

INFLATION in Cambodia continued to slow in August as the consumer price index (CPI) rose just 0.7 percent on the previous month, according to official figures obtained Tuesday.

The CPI data for August compares with a 1.5 percent rise in CPI from June to July and a 1.8 percent increase from May to June, suggesting that inflationary pressure in the Cambodian economy is waning.

August saw a 2.9 percent fall in prices year on year compared with the same month in 2008, when inflation was running at more than 20 percent, marking the sixth consecutive month of annualised deflation.

“Cambodia will experience a year of deflation in 2009, in stark contrast to the record pace of inflation of 25 percent that was recorded in 2008,” the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its September outlook for Cambodia.

Prices for petrol fell 25.4 percent in August year-on-year, the data showed, while natural gas was down 37.5 percent and telephone and fax equipment fell 25.4 percent, among the largest decreases among the products included in the figures.

Price rises for fish and seafood were the largest contributing factor to the month-on-month price rise, which climbed 2.7 percent.

The EIU has forecast 2.1 percent year-on-year deflation for Cambodia in 2009, with inflation expected to resume in 2010.

“Inflation will return in 2010 in response to a renewed build-up of demand-side pressures as economic growth begins to recover and global commodity prices edge higher,” it said in September's report.