Ukraine's Inflation Accelerates To 16.6% In December

KIEV, Ukraine -- A report issued by Ukraine's state statistics committee showed that the country's annual inflation rate accelerated to 16.6 percent in December, the fastest since 2000, on rising prices of food and fuel, Bloomberg reported.


According to the report, Ukraine's inflation rate surged from 15.2 percent in November, which was the highest in Europe for that month, as food costs increased 23.7 percent in December from a year earlier.

Consumer prices rose 2.1 percent from the previous month.

Consumer prices rose after neighboring Russia doubled the cost of natural gas sold to Ukraine in 2006 and raised it another 37 percent last year.

Ukraine relies on imports, mostly from Russia, for about 70 percent of its energy.

Source: MENA Fn