Consumer price indices - inflation - December 2024
Average inflation rate stood at 2.4% in 2024
Publication Date: 13. 01. 2025
Product Code: 012024-24
Month-on-month comparison
Consumer prices in December decreased by 0.3%, month-on-month. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', especially prices of fruit decreased by 2.8%, vegetables by 1.8%, poultry by 2.2%, pork by 1.9%, smoked meat and sausages by 1.1%, UHT semi-skimmed milk by 4.0% and cheese and curd by 1.0%. On the other hand, prices of potatoes increased by 10.9% and prices of butter by 5.1%, month-on-month. Price development in 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco' came from lower prices of wine by 5.5%, spirits by 2.5% and beer by 1.2%. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', prices of natural gas decreased by 2.4% and in 'miscellaneous goods and services', prices of products and services for personal care by 1.1%.
Prices of goods in total decreased by 0.5% and prices of services remained at the level of November.
Year-on-year comparison
Consumer prices increased by 3.0% in December, which was 0.2 percentage points up on November, year-on-year. This acceleration1) of the year-on-year price growth occurred mainly in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' (partially due to higher month-on-month decrease in December 2023) and in 'transport'. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', prices of eggs increased by 36.3% in December (increase by 31.7% in November), oils and fats by 16.9% (increase by 10.0% in November), fruit by 5.9% (increase by 2.8% in November), chocolate and chocolate products by 28.0% (increase by 15.8% in November) and non-alcoholic beverages by 5.9% (increase by 4.3% in November). Price development in 'transport' came mainly from slowdown of price decline of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment. They were lower by 2.6% in December, year-on-year (decrease by 7.6% in November).
The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in December came from prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where prices of actual rentals2) increased by 6.2%, prices of materials and services for maintenance and repair of the dwelling by 4.1%, water supply by 10.9%, sewage collection by 13.4%, electricity by 8.0%, heat and hot water by 8.5%. Prices of natural gas decreased by 5.5%. Next in order of influence were prices in 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', where prices of spirits increased by 3.4%, beer by 4.8% and tobacco products by 7.0%. Prices of wine dropped by 2.3%, year-on-year. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services were higher by 6.4% and accommodation services by 9.0%. Prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' went up by 1.7%, year-on-year. In ‘recreation and culture’, prices of package holidays increased by 4.9%. Year-on-year overall price level decrease in December came mainly from prices in 'clothing and footwear', where prices of garments were lower by 0.4% and shoes and other footwear by 2.3%.
Owner occupied housing costs (imputed rentals) increased by 1.7%, year-on-year (increase by 1.5% in November), mainly due to growth of prices of new real estates. The overall consumer price index excluding owner occupied housing costs was 103.1%, year-on-year. (More information: Methodological note.)
Prices of goods in total and services went up (1.7% and 5.0%, respectively).
Level of consumer price base index with base period the average of 2015 = 100, was 152.0% in December (152.4% in November).
Average inflation rate
“Average inflation rate for 2024 was 2.4%. Prices of goods in total rose by 0.9% and prices of services by 5.1% in 2024,“ noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.
(A summary of the development of the consumer price index in 2024 is a part of the Q4 analysis, which is released at the same time.)
Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) 3)
According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in December decreased by 0.3% month-on-month and increased by 3.3% (3.1% in November), year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in December 2024 amounted to 2.4% year-on-year (2.2% in November), 2.8% in Germany and 3.1% in Slovakia. It was the highest in Croatia in December (4.5%) and the lowest in Ireland (1.0%). 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 November (0.2 percentage points up on October). In November, the rise in prices was the highest in Romania (5.4%) and the lowest in Ireland (0.5%).
(More information on the Eurostat’s web pages: HICP.)
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Since January 2025 Flash estimate of consumer price index will be calculated and published. On 6 February 2025 for the first time with January data.
1) Acceleration/slowdown of the year-on-year price index growth is difference between current and previous year-on-year index. It therefore depends on the change of current month-on-month index and also on the change of base – month-on-month index (growth/decrease) in the same month of the last year.
2) Actual rentals includes both newly concluded contracts and existing ones.
3) Imputed rentals are excluded from the HICP.