Inflation in Ukraine accelerated despite seasonal food price decline

Inflation in Ukraine's consumer market in August 2026 was 0.1% compared to July. Year-on-year price growth accelerated to 8.1%. Core inflation also reached 8.1% year-on-year.

This is according to data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

For January-August, consumer prices were on average 7.8% higher than in the same period of 2025.

Overall price growth in August was restrained by seasonal food price declines. Food and non-alcoholic beverages fell by 1.3% over the month, and food alone by 1.4%.

Prices fell most for vegetables - by 18.3%, and fruits - by 12%. Butter became cheaper by 0.6%. Meanwhile, eggs rose by 4%, sugar by 2.2%, fish and fish products by 1.6%, meat and meat products by 0.9%.

Fuel and transport rose sharply

One of the main drivers of price growth in August was transport. This category rose by 4.4% over the month.

Fuel and lubricants increased by 8.1%, and road passenger transport by 6.6%. Transport services overall rose by 5.8%.

Year-on-year, transport was one of the categories with the highest price growth - 23.8%. Fuel and lubricants rose by 38.7%, and road passenger transport by 39.1%.

Water and sewerage prices increased at double-digit rates

The cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 1.3% in August. The main reason was an increase in water supply tariffs by 16.8% and sewerage by 16.7%.

Compared to August last year, water supply rose by 77.6%, and sewerage by 73.6%. Meanwhile, tariffs for electricity, natural gas, hot water and heating did not change in August.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products rose by 1.5% over the month, in particular tobacco products by 2.1%. Clothing and footwear, on the contrary, became cheaper by 2.5%.

Among food products, the State Statistics Service recorded the highest annual growth for fish and fish products - by 22.7%, sunflower oil - 21.8%, bread and bread products - 18.6%. Eggs, however, were 24.1% cheaper than in August last year, and fruits - 11.3%.

Earlier, the National Bank had preliminarily estimated that inflation continued to accelerate in August after 7.7% in July. Among the main factors the NBU cited fuel and public transport price increases. Actual data from the State Statistics Service confirmed the acceleration of annual inflation - to 8.1%.

Based on materials from: State Statistics Service of Ukraine