Consumer Price Indices - Basic Information

Commentary

The month-on-month increase in the consumer price level (+0.3%) was influenced most by an increase in prices in ‘recreation and culture’ (similarly as in the preceding years), which was caused by higher seasonal prices of package holidays (+16.5%). In ‘transport’, the rise in prices of automotive fuel continued for the fifth month and amounted to +4.1% in July. Prices of oil were the highest in their history, prices of petrol Natural 95 since June 2001. Prices of transport services also increased (+1.5%), primarily in passenger transport by road and urban passenger transport. In housing, prices of natural gas went up by +4.3%. In ‘communications’, the price growth was observed due to an end of discounted prices for installation of residential telephone lines. A fall in prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ had a reducing effect on prices; it was caused primarily by lower prices of potatoes (-36.8%), fruit (-12.7%) and fresh vegetables (-6.7%). Moderately higher were especially prices of meat and non-alcoholic beverages. In ‘clothing and footwear’, prices of cloth and footwear decreased mainly due to lower prices of summer collection (-1.6% and –2.7%, respectively).

In total, prices of goods dropped by -0.4% and prices of services rose by +1.3%.

In terms of year-on-year comparison, consumer prices growth slowed down to +1.7% in July (from +1.8% in June). The drop in the consumer price level was particularly brought about by the decrease in prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’, which was lower in July 2005 than in July 2004 after the year-on-year rise in the two preceding months. The development in food prices was influenced mainly by prices of fruit, which dropped y-o-y by –6.2% (the rise by +4.1% in June) and by the growth of prices of meat (+1.1%) and oils and fats (+0.6%), which slowed down. Lower were prices of potatoes (-13.3%), bread and cereals (–3.8%) and non-alcoholic beverages (–1.6%). On the other hand, marked acceleration of the rise in prices was observed in transport due to the price jump in automotive fuel from +2.7% in June to +8.2% in July, in particular. Prices of transport services increased by +3.2% (from +1.9% in June) due to the rise in prices of urban passenger transport and prices of passenger transport by road. The year-on-year growth of the consumer price level was particularly affected by prices of housing again; the growth of prices accelerated slightly due to higher prices of natural gas by +14.7%.

In total, prices of goods went up by +0.7% y-o-y and prices of services were higher by +3.4%.

Inflation rate, i.e. an increase in the average consumer price index for last 12 months related to the average CPI for the preceding 12 months, amounted to +2.2% in July, i.e. by –0.2 percentage points down on June.

According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year increase in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU25 reached +2.0% in June 2005 (the same as in May). The highest y-o-y price growth was observed in Latvia (+6.6%) and the lowest in Portugal (+0.6%) and Sweden (+0.8%). In Slovakia, the rise in prices accelerated to +2.5% in June (from +2.3% in May). In Germany, prices increased by +1.8% (+1.6% in May). In the Czech Republic, the y-o-y HICP growth reached +1.4% in July 2005 (+1.3% in June 2005). According to a flash estimate published by Eurostat, the y-o-y HICP increase for the Euro-zone was +2.2% in July 2005.

Note
Contact: Marie Huskova, phone (+420) 274054104, e-mail: huskova@gw.czso.cz
Data source: CZSO survey
End of data collection: 20th day of the reference month
End of data processing: 3rd day of the month that follows each reference month
The data are final.
Related publications: 7101-04 Consumer Price Indices – Basic Information; 7103-04 Consumer Price Indices – Detailed Information (Internet: https://csu.gov.cz )