Consumer price indices - inflation - March 2026

Month-on-month comparison

Consumer prices in March increased by 0.6%, month-on-month. In 'transport', especially prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment were higher by 19.4%. Prices of motor cars went up by 0.4%. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', prices of actual rentals were higher by 0.3%. Price development in 'restaurants and accommodation services' was mainly influenced by price growth of food and beverage serving services by 0.3%. On the other hand, month-on-month overall price level decrease in March came mainly from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', where especially prices of vegetables were lower by 3.0% (of which prices of potatoes decreased by 4.0%), sugar by 12.5%, chocolate and cocoa by 2.8%, cheese by 1.2% and meat by 0.3%. Prices of eggs increased by 4.9%.

Prices of goods in total increased by 0.8% and prices of services by 0.3%.

Year-on-year comparison

“Consumer price development in March was the most significantly influenced by prices of fuels and lubricants. Diesel was sold for CZK 42.00 per litre and petrol Natural 95 for CZK 38.10 per litre, on average. In case of Natural 95, it was the highest value from July 2024 and in case of diesel even from November 2022,” noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.

Consumer prices increased by 1.9% in March, which was 0.5 percentage points up on February, year-on-year. This acceleration¹⁾ of the year-on-year price growth came mainly from prices in 'transport'. In 'transport', prices of fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment turned from decline by 8.4% in February into growth by 13.1% in March. This growth was partly offset by price development in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', where prices of fruit decreased by 6.9% in March (decrease by 3.9% in February) and prices of vegetables by 2.4% (decrease by 0.2% in February), of which prices of potatoes were lower by 18.9% (decrease by 15.8% in February). Prices of eggs slowed down their year-on-year growth to 5.6% (increase by 16.5% in February).

The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in March came from already mentioned above prices in 'transport' (increase by 5.5%). Next in order of influence were prices in 'restaurants and accommodation services', where prices of food and beverage serving services were higher by 4.0% and accommodation services by 6.4%. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of spirits and liquors were higher by 1.6%, beer by 0.8% and tobacco products by 5.5%. Prices of wine decreased by 1.5%, year-on-year. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', beside owner occupied housing costs, prices of actual rentals²⁾ were higher by 6.1%, materials and services for the maintenance and repairs of the dwelling by 3.6%, water supply by 3.9%, sewage collection by 3.8% and heat and hot water by 1.5%. Prices of electricity decreased by 11.8% and natural gas by 5.9%, year-on-year. Price development in 'recreation, sport and culture' was influenced mainly by higher prices of recreational services by 5.6%. In 'personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services', especially prices of social protection were higher by 10.2%. On the other hand, year-on-year overall price level decrease in March came (after eighteen months of growth) from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', where beside already mentioned, prices of butter decreased by 23.2%, UHT semi-skimmed milk by 19.2% and pork by 7.5%. Price drop continued in 'clothing and footwear', where prices of garments were lower by 2.3% and prices of shoes and other footwear by 4.3%.

Owner occupied housing costs (imputed rentals) increased by 5.4%, year-on-year (increase by 5.1% in February), mainly due to growth of prices of new real estates. The overall consumer price index excluding owner occupied housing costs was 101.5%, year-on-year. (More information: Methodological note.)

Prices of goods in total and services went up (0.1% and 4.7%, respectively).

Level of consumer price base index with base period the average of 2025 = 100, was 101.4% in March (100.8% in February).

Inflation rate, i.e. the increase in the average consumer price index in the twelve months to March 2026 compared with the average CPI in the previous twelve months, amounted to 2.2% (2.2% also in February).

Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) ³⁾

According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in March increased by 0.6%, month-on-month and by 1.5% (1.0% in February), year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in March 2026 amounted to 2.5%, year-on-year (1.9% in February), 2.8% in Germany and 3.7% in Slovakia. It was the highest in Croatia (4.7%) in March and the lowest in Italy and in Cyprus (equally 1.5%).

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 2.1% in February (0.1 percentage point up on January). In February, the rise in prices was the highest in Romania (8.3%) and the lowest in Denmark (0.5%).

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

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Information on changes in price statistics from January 2026 onward here.

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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.