Since April 2022, Montenegro has entered the zone of two-digit or galloping inflation when the prices of products and services for personal consumption went up by 11.2% at the average level compared to April 2021. The trend of rising prices continues in May, when a 11.7% inflation was recorded compared to May 2021, which means that the average annual inflation rate for the first five months of 2022 is 9%. It represents the highest annual inflation in the last 15 years. These’d be the key conclusions of the second part of the research ‘COVID-19 impact on demographic, economic and financial developments in Montenegro’ prepared by the Association of Statisticians and Demographers of Montenegro and the Center for Democratic Transition, as part of the projected called ‘Action’.
Beside this, it’s worrying that the Montenegro inflation has been higher than the one in Eurozone, which hasn’t been the case so far. According to the latest official data, prices in Montenegro are by 11.7% higher at the average level in May 2022 compared to the same period last year, while in Eurozone, they rose by 8.1% at the average level.
Therefore, it’s not that high levels of inflation happen due to effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as officials usually tell, but a part of it is an internal issue.
