TUNIS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The consumer inflation rate in Tunisia reached 7.1 percent in February, compared to 6.9 percent in January, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Tunisia announced on Tuesday.

The increase is due to the accelerated price of the clothing-shoes group, which was 6.9 percent compared to 5.9 percent in January. The transport group rose to 9.5 percent in February against 8.7 percent in January, according to the main public institution specialized in strategic economic studies and official statistics in Tunisia.

Excluding food and energy, February's inflation rate is around 7 percent, compared with 6.6 percent in January, according to figures from INS.

In February 2017, inflation rate was around 4.6 percent, and 5.3 percent for the whole year of 2017.

INS also indicated that the index of prices for home consumption in Tunisia has declined by 0.1 percent point in February 2018.