October consumer price index falls to 9.9% due to drop in food prices

Finance Minister Jaroslaw Bauc announced on Friday that the consumer price index (CPI) fell to 9.9% in October from Setember's figure of 10.3%, after prices edged up 0.8% last month. Food prices increased by from 1.2% in the first half of October and then dropped by an average of 0.2% in the second half. "Lower food prices are a good sign. Despite lower supply, meat prices have fallen, which means that demand is very elastic." said CDM Pekao SA. economist Iwona Pugacewicz-Kowalska. According to Arkadiusz Garbarczyk of BRE Bank, October's CPI will hover at 0.7-0.8% and the figure for the year will total 9.8%-9.9%. (Reuters, Rzeczpospolita, Nov. 4-5,p.B1)