Algeria's inflation rate hit 5.7% in 2009

The average inflation rate in Algeria hit 5.7% in 2009, against 4.4 in 2008, the National Statistics Office (ONS) told APS on Tuesday. The variation is mainly due to a "relatively significant" increase of the foodstuffs prices (8.23%), particularly with 20.54% for agricultural products, while the prices of manufactured goods increased by 3.54%, and services went up by 4.14%, according to the ONS, which however recorded a drop of 0.43% in industrial food products. Except for the prices of oils and fats, which went down by 19.75%, and milk, cheese and dairy products (-0.86%), all the other foodstuffs showed an increase, especially regarding mutton (+26.96%), fresh vegetables (+20.14%), fresh fish (+19.81%), beef (+19%) and eggs (+18.36%).