Consumer Price Indices - Basic Information

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The level of consumer prices in May rose compared with April by 0.4%. Divisions ‘transport‘ and ‘alcoholic beverages, tobacco‘ had an upward effect on the consumer price level. The year-on-year growth of consumer prices was 2.4% in May (down from 2.5% in April 2007).


The month-on-month rise of the price level by 0.4% was mainly brought about by the increase in prices of automotive fuel, which continued for the third month and amounted to 4.3% in May. Also prices of tobacco products rose by additional 2.6% in May after a four months increase. In ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels‘, net actual rentals rose by 2.0% in dwellings with regulated rentals. In ‘health‘, seasonal prices of stays at spas were higher by 10.7%. In ‘restaurants and hotels‘, prices in canteens and prices of accommodation services went up (0.6% and 0.7%, respectively).

A slightly reducing effect on price development had the fall in prices for ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages‘ coming primarily from the drop in prices of vegetables including potatoes by 8.4%. On the other hand, prices of bread and cereals increased by 2.5% and prices of meat by 1.1%.

Prices of goods in total increased by 0.4% and prices of services by 0.2%.

In terms of year-on-year comparison, in May the increase in consumer prices was 2.4%, i.e. 0.1 percentage point down compared to April 2007. A slowdown in the growth of prices was recorded in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages‘, in which seasonal prices of vegetables incl. potatoes were higher by 5.9%, while in April by 24.8%. A growth of prices slowed down markedly in ‘communications‘. The reason was a rise in telecommunication services in May 2006.

Prices in ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels‘ became a group showing the strongest impact on the y-o-y growth of prices in May, but they shared the primacy with prices in ‘alcoholic beverages, tobacco‘. In ranking order of the impact on y-o-y inflation, prices in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages‘ moved from the first place in April to the third place in May. In housing, prices of electricity and solid fuels rose (7.9% and 16.8%, respectively). Water supply went up by 6.7% and sewerage collection by 5.5%. Net rentals paid for dwellings with regulated rentals increased by 11.4% and by 1.2% for dwellings with market rentals. In ‘alcoholic beverages, tobacco‘, the growth of prices of tobacco products accelerated to 14.5% (from 11.7% in April). In food, prices of bread and cereals were higher by 13.9% and prices of potatoes by 42.9%.

Conversely, the division ‘transport’ had a downward effect on the price level due to the drop of prices for automotive fuel by 2.9%, in spite of their month-on-month growth. Prices of passenger cars dropped by 2.3%. Prices of clothing and footwear were moderately lower than in the previous year. In the division ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels‘, prices of natural gas went down by 8.2%. Also prices of meat, oils and fats, coffee, tea and cocoa were lower than a year earlier. Prices of electronic audio-visual, photographic and cinematographic equipment and personal computers in the division ‘recreation and culture’ decreased too.

Prices of goods in total grew by 2.1% and prices of services by 2.6%.

Inflation rate, i.e. the increase in the average consumer price index in the twelve months to May 2007 compared with the average CPI in the previous twelve months, stood at 2.1% in May (0.1 percentage point down on April 2007).

According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year increase in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU 27 member states was 2.2% in April (0.1% percentage point down on March). The highest annual rates were observed in Latvia (8.8%) and Hungary (8.7%), and the lowest rates in France (1.3%). In Malta, they were 1.1% down on April 2006. The growth of consumer prices in Slovakia slowed down to 2.0% in April (from 2.1% in March). The price level in Germany rose by 2.0% (the same as in March 2007).

According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in the Czech Republic in May 2007 increased by 0.4% month-on-month and slowed down to 2.4% (from 2.7% in April 2007) year-on-year. The MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) flash estimate for the Eurozone in May 2007 was 1.8% y-o-y, as Eurostat announced.