In May 2025, consumer inflation in Ukraine amounted to 1.3% compared to April, according to the State Statistics Service. In general, since the beginning of the year, prices have increased by 5.6%, and the core inflation rate for the last month was 0.5%, reaching 4.4% since the beginning of the year.

The main factor in the increase in the cost of living was the increase in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages - in May they increased in price by 2.8%. The highest increase was recorded in the fruit segment - their prices jumped by 17.6%, which was the largest jump among all product groups.

Meat and meat products (+5.4%), non-alcoholic beverages (+1.8%) and fish (+1.4%) also increased significantly. In addition, the cost of bread and vegetables increased by 1.2%, and a slight increase was also recorded in the categories of pasta, cheese, sugar and sunflower oil.

At the same time, some goods, on the contrary, became more affordable. The largest price decrease was recorded for eggs - minus 8.7%, as well as for butter (–0.8%) and milk (–0.7%), which partially softened the overall growth rate of household spending.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco in May rose in price by 1.4%, while clothing and footwear, on the contrary, fell in price by 1.9%, which is usually characteristic of off-season sales.

Changes also occurred in the transport sector: the total cost of transport services increased by 0.4%. At the same time, rail transportation became cheaper by 0.7%, and the cost of travel by road increased by 0.5%. Despite this, fuel and lubricants became cheaper by 1.3%, which partially restrained inflationary pressure in the transport sector.

Thus, inflation dynamics in May reflect seasonal fluctuations and imbalances in individual commodity markets, which remain relevant in an unstable economic situation.