Belarusians' inflation expectations increased

The assessment of the perceived inflation rate has also increased.

National Bank notes a marked increase in inflation expectations of Belarusians in August after a slight decline in spring months.

This is stated in another study published on the website of the regulator, belmarket.by reports.

According to it, the expected inflation rate for the next 12 months rose to 13.1% in August from 11.5% in May this year.

At the same time, the percentage of respondents who expect prices to rise "as intensively" has increased to 64.4% from 58.9%, while the proportion of respondents expecting the acceleration of price growth has increased to 17.9% from 15.7%.

The assessment of the perceived level of inflation has also increased. Thus, in August, Belarusians estimated the current rate of annual inflation as 12.8% (in May - 12.2%). At the same time, the percentage of respondents who believe that prices have risen "significantly" has risen to 48% from 47.4%.

As previously reported, the actual annual inflation rate in Belarus rose to 6% in July this year from 5.7% in June.

In early August, the National Bank reported about the slowdown in inflation in the second quarter, reduction of inflationary factors and confirmed the achievement of the set inflation target for 2019 at the level of no more than 5%. Against this background, the National Bank reduced the refinancing rate from 10 to 9.5% per annum on August 14.

In July, the National Bank noted that the main reason for maintaining high inflationary expectations of the population of Belarus is the outpacing growth dynamics of administratively regulated prices.