By the end of June, food prices have increased by 8.1% y/y (that is, compared to June 2016) and decreased by 0.6% m/m (that is, compared to May 2017). During the last two weeks of the month, the biggest price increases were for milk (3.2%), cheese (2.4%) and garlic (1.9%). Eggplant, tomatoes and peaches, on the contrary, became cheaper by 26.2%, 24.1% and 17.3%, respectively.
In May 2017, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri declined to 3.14 GEL – a 5.4% decrease month-on-month (compared to April 2017). In annual terms (compared to May 2016), however, the Index gained 8.5%.
In May 2017, the price of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri continued its normal seasonal decreasing trend and reached 3.14 GEL, which is 5.4% lower month-on-month (compared to April 2017), but 8.5% higher year-on-year (compared to May 2016). The main contributor to the price change was a seasonal decrease in the price of cheese, which fell by -10.1%, compared to the previous month (April 2017).
In economics, there is a long-standing debate on whether emerging markets should adopt a fixed exchange rate currency regime or leave their exchange rates up to markets to decide. Intuitively, the exchange rate is just another price, similar to the price of a sack of potatoes, a liter of milk, or a kilogram of honey. Except that the exchange rate is the price of 1 unit of foreign currency (say, 1 US dollar) in terms of our domestic currency.
In April 2017, the average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri decreased to 3.32 GEL, which is 2.5% lower month-on-month (m/m, that is, compared to March 2017), but 4.9% higher year-on-year (y/y, compared to April 2016).