Prices slowed for alcoholic beverages & tobacco (6.8% vs 7.1% in June) and miscellaneous goods & services (14% vs 15.2%). In addition, prices grew less for furnishings & household equipment (8.5% vs 8.9%) and communication (5.4% vs 5.8%).

Meanwhile, transport costs decreased less (-11.8% vs -13.7%).

Also, inflation rose for food & non-alcoholic beverages (13.5% vs 13.3%), restaurants & hotels (13.9% vs 11.9%), recreation & culture (14.6% vs 14.5%), health (13.3% vs 12.7%), education (10.4% vs 10.2%) and clothing & footwear (6.6% vs 5.9%).

On a monthly comparison basis, the consumer price index, or CPI, advanced 0.9%, following a 0.4% fall in the previous month.

Preliminary estimates, released on Wednesday, from the Sofia-based institute showed, that the Bulgarian economy rose an annual 1.8% in the second quarter of 2023, following a 2.3% expansion in the first quarter. It marked the slowest pace of economic growth since the fourth quarter of 2020. On a quarterly basis, the GDP grew 0.4%, slightly down from a 0.5% expansion in the prior period.