According to the Consumer Price Index for May 2026, released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the inflation rate stabilized at 5.5% for May 2026.
This rate is mainly explained by the slowdown in the pace of price increases for the clothing and footwear group (9.1% in May 2026 versus 9.3% in April 2026), on the one hand, and by the acceleration in the pace of price increases for the tobacco group (0.8% in May 2026 versus 0.4% in April 2026), as well as for hotel and restaurant services (6.3% in May 2026 versus 6.2% in April 2026), on the other hand.
Moreover, prices in the food and beverages group maintained a stable growth rate at 8.2%.
Year-on-year, prices of food products rose by 8.2%. This increase is mainly due to higher prices for sheep meat (+21.8%), poultry (+15.6%), beef (+14.1%), fresh vegetables (+12.2%), fresh fish (+11.9%), and fresh fruits (+11.6%).
By contrast, prices of edible oils fell by 6.1% as well as eggs by 4.6%.
Over the year, prices of manufactured goods increased by 4.6%, driven by a rise in clothing and footwear prices of 9.1% and by household maintenance products of 4.6%.
For services, the year-on-year price increase stands at 4.2%, primarily explained by a rise in accommodation services of 15.9%.
In May 2026, the core inflation rate (excluding food and energy) stabilized at 4.8%. Prices of unregulated (free) products rose by 6.7% year over year.
Prices of regulated products, on the other hand, increased by 1.2%. Free food products recorded a rise of 9.3% compared with 0.2% for price-regulated food products.
Consumer prices rose by 0.3% over a month.
During May 2026, the consumer price index rose by 0.3% compared with April 2026. This increase is mainly due to higher prices in the food products group by 0.4% and in the “Restaurants and Hotels” group by 0.6%.
On a monthly basis, prices in the “Food” group rose by 0.4%, driven by a 4.2% increase in meat prices.
By contrast, eggs prices fell by 7%, fresh fruits by 2.9%, and fresh vegetables by 1.3%.
In May 2026, prices of clothing products rose by 0.4%. Thus, clothing items rose by 0.5% and shoes by 0.1%.
Prices in the “Restaurants and Hotels” group advanced by 0.6%. This increase is explained by the 3.5% rise in accommodation services.
INS also indicated that the “Manufactured Goods” group and the “Services” group were the sectors contributing the most to the overall inflation, at 1.7% and 1.4% respectively.
For inflation contributions by regime, the “Non-food free” group and the “Food free” group were the groups contributing the most to inflation, at 2.9% and 2.4% respectively.
