Prices have increased over the year:
- for services – by 14.1% (in January – 13.8%);
- for non-food goods – by 8.7% (8.4%);
- for food products – by 6.5% (5.8%).
The largest contributions to the annual inflation rate came from food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.5 percentage points), housing services (1.9 p.p.), healthcare (1.1 p.p.), and clothing and footwear (1 p.p.).
Over the year, prices for meat increased by 6.2%, fruits and vegetables by 9.3%, dairy products by 6.1%, oils and fats by 10.5%, non-alcoholic beverages by 9.5%, and bread and cereals by 2.8%. Clothing became 10.6% more expensive, while footwear rose by 11.4%.
Tariffs for cold water increased by 70.7% over the year, electricity by 21%, central heating by 18.2%, wastewater by 17.3%, hot water by 14.5%, gas by 13.2%, and garbage collection by 11.1%.
Services in comprehensive recreation organizations rose by 34%, telecommunications by 14.3%, hairdressing by 12.3%, healthcare by 11.8%, public catering by 10.8%, and car services by 10.5%. The cost of travel by trains and electric trains increased by 20%, by airplanes by 12.5%, and by buses by 10.5%. Rent for housing became 16.5% more expensive.
Prices for jewelry and watches increased by 24.4%, domestically assembled cars by 18.9%, and furniture and household items by 10.5%.
In February, inflation levels exceeding the national average were recorded in eight regions. The highest was in Astana at 12.7%, followed by Akmolinsk (10.7%) and West Kazakhstan (10.5%) regions.
Currently, there is a discussion in Kazakhstan about increasing the VAT rate from 12% to 16%, as well as lowering the VAT registration threshold to 15 million tenge. According to government calculations, this measure will lead to an acceleration of inflation by 3 percentage points.