Consumer Price Indices - Basic Information
Commentary | Contents |
Year-on-year growth of prices slowed down in the fifth successive month
Consumer price indices - March 2005
The month-on-month decrease in the price level (-0.1%) was influenced similarly as in March 2004 by a drop in prices of recreational stays (-3.1%). Prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ decreased m-o-m first time since September 2004. Lower were especially prices of bread and cereals, meat, eggs and sugar. Prices of fresh vegetables, which increased markedly in the last four months, dropped by -0.8%. On the other hand, prices of fruit rose by +2.4% after a two-month drop. Prices of milk, oils and fats increased moderately. The drop in prices continued in ‘clothing and footwear’ and ‘furnishings, household equipment and maintenance‘. As for alcoholic beverages, prices of beer and wine were slightly lower.
The increase in the price level was influenced by higher prices in ‘transport’, in which automotive fuel prices were decreasing for four months but rose by +2.3% in March. On the other hand, prices of cars decreased by -0.9%. In ‘health’, mainly seasonal prices of stays at spas increased by +5.0%. In ‘education’, school fees in nursery schools rose by +0.4%. In ‘restaurants and hotels’ prices in canteens and accommodation services went up by +0.2%.
In total, prices of goods remained unchanged, while prices of services dropped by -0.1%.
In terms of year-on-year comparison, consumer prices grew by +1.5% in March (the lowest year-on-year growth since December 2003). The slowdown in the price growth was particularly due to the drop in prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’, in which prices of fresh vegetables and non-alcoholic beverages decreased more markedly than in the previous month.
The highest price increase was recorded for ‘health’ (influence of price increase of medicaments by +9.9%) and ‘restaurants and hotels’, in which prices of meals in public catering went up by +7.4% and canteens +12.5%. Prices of tobacco products rose by +8.9%, prices of alcoholic beverages were by -0.1% lower than last year. In housing, the biggest increase was in prices of refuse collection (+10.7%), natural gas (+6.0%), electricity (+2.3%) and heat and hot water (+3.5%). The growth of prices of financial services slowed down to +8.7% (from +11.5% in February).
Prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ were already for the third month slightly lower than in the same month of the year 2004. The drop in prices was brought about by the cut in prices of potatoes (-58.2%), fresh vegetables (-5.9%), bread and cereals (-1.3%), non-alcoholic beverages (-2.1%), in particular. The decrease in prices in ‘transport’ was influenced by lower prices of automotive fuel, which were by -1.2% down on March 2004, despite their month-on-month increase. Prices of cars were also lower (-8.2%). In ‘communications’, the drop in prices continued and was brought about particularly by the different VAT rate of public telecommunication services in March 2005 and March 2004.
In total, prices of goods remained unchanged y-o-y and prices of services were higher by +4.1%.
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 2.6% in March.
According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year increase in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU25 reached +2.1% in February 2005 (0.1 percentage point more than in January 2005). Most of the EU Member States observed an acceleration of the y-o-y increase (from 0.1 to 0.7 percentage points). The highest y-o-y price growth was observed in Latvia (+7.0%) and the lowest in Finland (the same level as in February 2004). In Slovakia, the rise in prices slowed down to 2.6% in February (from 3.1% in January). In the Czech Republic, the y-o-y HICP growth reached +1.2% in March 2005 (+1.4% in February 2005). According to a flash estimate published by Eurostat, the y-o-y HICP increase for the Euro-zone in March 2005 was +2.1%.
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 )