Consumer price indices - inflation - April 2025

Month-on-month comparison

Consumer prices in April decreased by 0.1%, month-on-month. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of wine were lower by 5.1%, spirits by 2.1% and beer by 1.6%. In 'recreation and culture', prices of package holidays decreased by 3.0%. Price drop in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' came mainly from lower prices of smoked meat and sausages by 1.6%, eggs by 4.4%, sugar by 10.6%, oils and fats by 1.3% and chocolate and chocolate products by 2.5%. In 'transport', especially prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment decreased by 2.7%. On the other hand, month-on-month overall price level increase in April came mainly from prices in 'furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance', where especially prices of cleaning and maintenance products for households were higher by 1.7% and prices of household appliances by 1.1%. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services increased by 2.5% and accommodation services by 0.4%. In food, mainly prices of beef and veal were higher by 4.7%, fruit by 0.9% and yoghurts by 2.9%.

Prices of goods in total decreased by 0.3%, while prices of services increased by 0.2%.

Year-on-year comparison

“Consumer prices in April significantly weakened their year-on-year growth to 1.8%, which was the lowest value since March 2018. This slowdown was influenced both by last year´s higher benchmark and continued decline in fuel prices,” noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.

Consumer prices increased by 1.8% in April, which was 0.9 percentage points down on March, year-on-year. This slowdown¹⁾ of the year-on-year price growth occurred mainly in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' and in 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco' (both partly due to month-on-month increase of their prices in April last year). In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', prices of meat slowed down their increase to 1.4% (increase by 3.7% in March), eggs to 37.1% (increase by 46.0% in March), other edible oils to 5.3% (increase by 16.1% in March), chocolate and chocolate products to 17.8% (increase by 33.9% in March). Prices of flour decreased by 14.2% (decrease by 2.1% in March) and prices of sugar by 32.4% (decrease by 22.7% in March). In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of spirits decreased by 2.4% (increase by 3.5% in March), prices of wine by 9.0% (increase by 1.1% in March) and prices of beer by 1.7% (increase by 1.3% in March).

The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in April came from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', where, except already mentioned above, prices of butter increased by 28.8%, coffee by 20.4% and cocoa by 18.9%. Next in order of influence were prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where beside owner occupied housing costs, prices of actual rentals²⁾ increased by 5.9%, materials and services for maintenance and repair of the dwelling by 3.4%, water supply by 4.2%, sewage collection by 3.7% and heat and hot water by 4.9%. Prices of electricity decreased by 4.7% and natural gas by 8.9%. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services were higher by 4.7% and accommodation services by 8.2%. Year-on-year overall price level decrease in April came mainly from prices in 'transport', where prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment dropped by 13.4%.

Owner occupied housing costs (imputed rentals) increased by 4.1%, year-on-year (increase by 3.6% in March), mainly due to growth of prices of new real estates and also price growth of construction works. The overall consumer price index excluding owner occupied housing costs was 101.6%, year-on-year. (More information: Methodological note.)

Prices of goods in total and services went up (0.2% and 4.7%, respectively).

Level of consumer price base index with base period the average of 2015 = 100, was 154.2% in April (154.4% in March).

 Inflation rate, i.e. the increase in the average consumer price index in the twelve months to April 2025 compared with the average CPI in the previous twelve months, amounted to 2.5% (2.6% in March).

Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) ³⁾

According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in April decreased by 0.1% month-on-month and increased by 1.7% (2.7% in March), year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in April 2025 amounted to 2.2%, year-on-year (2.2% also in March), 2.2% in Germany and 3.9% in Slovakia. It was the highest in Estonia in April (4.4%) and the lowest in France (0.8%). According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year change in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU27 member states amounted to 2.5% in March (0.2 percentage points down on February). In March, the rise in prices was the highest in Romania (5.1%) and the lowest in France (0.9%).

(More information on the Eurostat’s web pages: HICP.)