Consumer Price Indices - Basic Information

The month-on-month rise in the price level was influenced by the increase in automotive fuel prices (+4.8 %). An average price of petrol Natural 95 was by 1.59 CZK higher than in March and exceeded the price limit of 30 CZK in the second half of April. The growth of the price level was affected by the rise in prices in ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, in which prices of natural gas increased by +1.4 % and prices of heat by +0.6 %. Prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ increased primarily due to higher prices of potatoes and fresh vegetables in April (+17.3 % and +2.8 %, respectively) after the drop that lasted for 2 months. Prices of accommodation services rose in ‘restaurants and hotels’ by +2.4 %. In ‘health’, seasonal prices of stays at spas were higher by +4.8 %. In ‘miscellaneous goods and services’, especially prices of personal care have increased (+0.4 %).

However, a contrary effect on the price level was due to the decrease in prices in ‘recreation and culture‘, in which off-season prices of domestic recreational stays and recreational stays abroad and prices of equipment for the reception, recording and reproduction of pictures and sound dropped (-1.1 % and -0.7 %, respectively). In ‘communications’, a fall in prices was recorded for long-distance phone calls and phone calls to a mobile network from a fixed line. In alcoholic beverages, especially prices of spirits were lower by –1.0 %.

In total, prices of goods rose by +0.2 % and prices of services remained on the same level as in March.

In terms of year-on-year comparison, consumer prices were higher the third successive month by +2.8 %. In most of the divisions of the consumer basket, the y-o-y price level change was in April approximately the same as in March. The acceleration in a growth of prices was recorded primarily in housing, in which prices of natural gas increased by +30.0 % in April (+25.4 % in March). On the other hand, a slowdown in the growth of prices was observed for ‘communications‘, in which the rise in prices of public telecommunications services slowed down to +12.0 % from +14.6 % in March. The year-on-year increase in prices slowed down also in ‘transport’ due to the price development of prices of automotive fuel, which rose rather markedly m-o-m, but their m-o-m increase was distinctly higher in April 2005. This was reflected in a slowdown in the y-o-y growth of prices of automotive fuel in April to +7.3 % from +10.9 % in March.

The drop in the price level was influenced mainly by the decrease in prices in ‘clothing and footwear‘, ‘furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house‘, and ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’. In food, prices of flour, fruit and sugar were markedly lower than in the previous year (-9.2 %, -9.6 % and -11.3 %, respectively). On the other hand, prices of potatoes were markedly higher (+71.9 %).

An effect of the particular divisions of the consumer basket on a y-o-y increase in consumer prices in April was the same as in March with the exception of two strongest divisions. The biggest share (2.0 percentage points) belonged to ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’, the influence of which strengthened by +0.1 percentage point in April. On the other hand, the influence in ‘transport’ decreased by the same value and reached +0.3 percentage point, identically as in ‘communications‘.

In total, prices of goods went up (+2.3 %) as well as prices of services (+3.6 %).

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 stood at 2.3 % in April, i.e. by +0.1 percentage point up on March 2006.

According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year increase in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU25 was +2.1 % in March (-0.1 percentage point down on February). Prices grew most in Latvia (+6.6 %), the least in Poland (+0.9 %) and Finland (+1.2 %). Growth of prices in Slovakia amounted to +4.3 % in March (the same as in February). In Germany, the rise in prices slowed down to +1.9 % (from +2.1 %) after three successive months, in which the rise was stable.

In the Czech Republic, the m-o-m increase was +0.3 % in April and the y-o-y HICP growth reached +2.4 % (the same for the fourth successive month). According to the flash estimate published by Eurostat, the y-o-y HICP increase for the Euro-zone was +2.4 % in April 2006.

Note
Contact: Marie Huskova, phone (+420) 274054104, e-mail: marie.huskova@csu.gov.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: 7103-06 Consumer Price Indices – Detailed Information (Internet: https://csu.gov.cz)