Israel’s year-on-year 12-month inflation rose to 4.1 percent in August, showed data issued by the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics confirmed.
It registered an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to 3.3 percent recorded in July, the lowest since January 2022.
This is also the first rise in the 12-month figure since January 2023, when the inflation soared to 5.4 percent, the highest since October 2008.
Analysts said the main reason for the increase is the recent weakening of the shekel against the U.S. dollar, which led to an increase in the prices of imported products.
Another reason for the rise is that the new 12-month figure no longer includes the monthly abnormal deflation recorded in August 2022.
In August, the consumer price index increased by 0.5 percent from July, with the prices of fresh vegetables registering a 1.9-percent increase.
Home prices in Israel declined in the June-July period by 0.1 percent compared to the May-June period, marking the fourth straight decrease after rising for almost three years.
On an annual basis, Israel’s home prices in June-July 2023 rose by 3.2 percent compared to the same period in 2022, the lowest annual increase in over two and a half years. ■
