Israel’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.5% in February 2023, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced this evening. This is the second successive month that the rise has been above expectations with analysts expected a rise of 0.2%-0.3.5%. Over the past 12 months the CPI has risen by 5.2%, down from 5.4% last month, but above the analysts predicted inflation rate of 5.05%.
There were notable price rises in February in fresh fruit and vegetables (3.8%), culture and entertainment (0.9%), food (0.8%), and transport (0.5%).
There were notable price falls last month in clothing and footwear (3.3%), and communications (0.4%).
Changes in home prices are published at the same time as the CPI but are not included in it. In December-January 2022/2023 housing prices rose 0.1% in comparison with November-December 2022, and have risen 14.6% in comparison with December-January 2021/2022, which is the lowest annual rise since February 2021. In November-December 2022 prices of new homes fell 0.6% in comparison with October-November, but were up 20.6% in comparison with November-December 2021.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 15, 2023.
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