In August of this year, Kazakhstan saw a significant increase in the price of gas distributed through pipelines. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, tariffs for this fuel rose by an average of 29.5% in a month, marking the most notable hike among all utility services. Other housing and communal services saw only slight increases, within 1%, reports infohub.kz.
Annual inflation in the country slowed to 9.8% by the end of August, the lowest level in a year and a half. Nevertheless, many goods and services remain significantly more expensive than a year ago. This is especially true for gas: since the beginning of the year, its cost has risen by 34.9%, and on an annual basis, by 20%.
Among other utilities, only minor monthly increases were observed: hot water went up by 1%, electricity by 0.9%, cold water by 0.5%, and housing maintenance tariffs by 0.6%. Meanwhile, sewage disposal became 0.1% cheaper, while heating and waste removal costs remained unchanged.
On an annual basis, the price dynamics for utilities are as follows: cold water decreased by 40.9%, central heating increased by 0.1%, waste removal by 0.7%, sewage disposal by 1.5%, hot water by 3.6%, electricity by 4.0%, housing maintenance and service by 5.6%, and gas by 20.0%.
Thus, among all utilities, only gas demonstrated a substantial price increase both monthly and annually, while other services are rising moderately. Earlier, we reported on which regions of Kazakhstan saw the most significant increases in prices for goods and services.