By Helena Bedwell

Georgia’s inflation rate will fall to 7.5 percent by the end of the year, after consumer-price growth accelerated to 13.9 percent in the first quarter, the central bank said.

While inflation may remain at 13 percent to 14 percent in the second quarter, it will slow in the second half as food prices stabilize, the Tbilisi-based bank said today in an e- mailed report.

Inflation has exceeded the central bank’s 6 percent target for the last 11 months, driven largely by food prices, which comprise more than 40 percent of Georgia’s consumer-inflation basket.

Consumer prices rose 14.3 percent in May from a year earlier, up from 13.5 percent in April.

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