site.btaAnnual Inflation in Bulgaria in April was 3.5%

According to the National Statistical Institute (NSI), in April 2025 the monthly inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was negative (-0.8%), while the annual inflation was 3.5%. Year-to-date inflation (April 2025 versus December 2024) was 1.9% and the annual average for May 2024-April 2025 versus May 2023-April 2024 was 2.7%.

In April 2025, monthly inflation as measured by the Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) was negative (-1.2%), annual inflation was 2.8%. Year-to-date inflation (April 2025 versus December 2024) was 1.3% and the annual average inflation rate for the period May 2024 to April 2025 versus the period May 2023 to April 2024 was 2.7%.

The HICP is a comparable measure of inflation for EU countries and is one of the criteria for price stability and for Bulgaria's accession to the euro area, which stipulates that the inflation rate cannot exceed by more than 1.5 percentage points the inflation rate of the three best-performing member states.

In April 2024, the monthly inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) was negative (-0.3%), the annual 2.4%, and the annual average measured by the HICP for the period May 2023-April 2024 compared to the period May 2022-April 2023 was 5.5%, according to an NSI reference.

Cumulative inflation

Cumulative inflation, as measured by the CPI, for the last three years (April 2025 to April 2022) was 18.3% and for the last five years (April 2025 to April 2020) was 37.9%.

For the twenty-third month now, the annual inflation rate (CPI) in Bulgaria has been in single digits with a downward trend, according to the NSI. In June 2023, it became single-digit (8.7%) - for the first time since January 2022, when it was 9.1%. The country's inflation peaked in September 2022, when it reached 18.7% (CPI) on an annual basis.

Prices of goods and services

In April 2025, prices of goods and services fell in the following sectors: Healthcare - by 8.8%; Communications - by 3.6%; Transportation - by 2.6%; Entertainment and Culture - by 1.6%; Housing, household goods and services and ordinary maintenance of the home - by 0.7%; Miscellaneous goods and services - by 0.3%; and Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels - by 0.1%.

Prices of goods and services were higher in the following consumer groups: Clothing and footwear - by 7.9%; Food and non-alcoholic beverages - by 0.4%; Education - by 0.3%; Restaurants and hotels - by 0.3%; Alcoholic beverages and tobacco - by 0.2%.