Economist Irakli Makalatia told BM.GE, that annual inflation of 2.4% requires a lot of clarification and consideration.
"First of all, it is necessary to consider how much the subsidy of utility bills has affected the majority of citizens. The fact that the subsidy comes from the budget, so inflation must be calculated without utility bills, as well as it is calculated excluding the tobacco. On the background of restrictions and regulations, when the structure of citizens’ consumption changes, it will be accurate to revise commodity groups. Consumption of food and health products is especially high during this period, so their share must be grown in the whole consumer basket, as well as we should consider not only the overall inflation rate, but also assess the growth rates in the most important consumer groups while analyzing the inflation.
According to the calculation methodology, the inflation rate is a general indicator and is not 100% accurate, which has many reasons - product prices are obtained as a result of selective observation, so obviously it has sampling errors as well. Especially during the pandemic, when certain types of products were not even sold, the prices of these products were taken by the so-called conditional calculation. Inflation is also calculated for the average consumer, so each person has a different consumption structure. However, Geostat has offered a personal inflation calculator, where each person can get various inflation from the average inflation rate based on the consumption structure and prices of specific products," - said Irakli Makalatia.
