Global Inflation Rate Shows Signs of Easing in August 2024
At the global level, the inflation rate showed signs of easing in August 2024. In the United States, it stood at 2.5%, while in the eurozone, it reached 2.2%, gradually approaching the 2% target set by central banks. In the United Kingdom, after reaching this target in June, inflation rebounded to 2.2% in July and 2.3% in August. In China, the inflation rate, although still far from negative territory, recorded 0.6% in August, up from 0.5% the previous month, but still below the 3% target set by the central bank.
Tunisian Economy: Inflation Rate Stabilizes, Economic Growth Improves
In Tunisia, the inflation rate stabilized at 6.7% in September 2024, marking the second consecutive month at this level. Underlying inflation also continued to decelerate, reaching 6.7% compared to 7% the previous month. On the economic growth front, the GDP, at 2015 constant prices, gradually left negative territory, rising from 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024 to 1% in the following quarter. This improvement is due to a strong acceleration of domestic demand, which recorded a 2.6% increase after a modest 0.5% rise in the first quarter.
However, exports of goods and services experienced a significant 3.1% decline in the second quarter of 2024, which subtracted 1.4 percentage points from economic growth. On the supply side, the services sector, the main contributor to the economy, experienced a slight slowdown, contributing only 0.9 percentage points to growth, compared to 1.1 percentage points in the previous quarter. Nevertheless, the rebound in agricultural production offset the negative contribution of industry, which recorded a 0.7 percentage point decline in Q2-2024.
Over the first nine months of 2024, the average inflation rate reached 7.2%, compared to 9.7% the previous year, representing a 2.5 percentage point decrease, testifying to the effectiveness of the monetary tightening adopted by the central bank in 2022.
