North Macedonia’s annual inflation rate edged up to 2.7% in September 2026, from 2.6% in August, reaching its highest level in three months. The uptick was driven by faster price increases in several categories, including food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.7% vs 1.0% in August), clothing and footwear (2.7% vs 2.1%), furniture and household equipment (2.2% vs 1.7%), education (5.4% vs 5.0%), restaurants and hotels (5.8% vs 4.8%), and miscellaneous goods and services (2.6% vs 1.9%).
Meanwhile, price growth for insurance and financial services was unchanged at 0.3%. In contrast, inflation slowed for alcoholic beverages and tobacco (6.5% vs 9.4%), housing and utilities (3.7% vs 3.8%), health (1.3% vs 1.5%), transportation (3.3% vs 3.4%), information and communication (0.4% vs 1.9%), and recreation and culture (6.3% vs 8.8%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices were flat in August, following a 0.4% rise in the previous month.
