Official inflation figures published Tuesday by the National Statistics Committee of Belarus show that the country's consumer price index rose 208.7 percent year-on-year to December 2011. It jumped 102.3 percent between November and December last year.
The price of bread shot up 157.1 percent between December 2010 and December 2011, that of meat by 255.5 percent, cooking oil by 257 percent and vegetables by 225.3 percent. The cost of shoes climbed 180.3 percent and the cost of gasoline 209.3 percent.
Belarus's overall base rate of inflation in 2011 was put at 118.1 percent. The government had predicted that it would be between 7.5 and 8.5 percent.
(MT)
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