Consumer price indices - inflation - May 2025

Month-on-month comparison

Consumer prices in May increased by 0.5%, month-on-month. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', prices of meat were higher by 1.4%, non-alcoholic beverages by 2.0%, fruit by 2.2%, chocolate and chocolate products by 7.1%, bread and cereals by 0.8%, cheese and curd by 1.5%, potatoes by 11.3% and sugar by 11.1%. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of spirits increased by 4.2%, wine by 5.1% and beer by 1.0%. Price development in 'health' was influenced by seasonal increase of spa stays by 12.5%. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services increased by 0.3% and accommodation services by 1.8%. On the other hand, month-on-month overall price level decrease in May came mainly from prices in 'transport', where especially prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment were lower by 1.9%. In food, mainly prices of vegetables were lower by 1.5%.

Prices of goods in total and prices of services increased equally by 0.5%.

Year-on-year comparison

“Consumer prices in May accelerated their year-on-year growth to 2.4%. Nevertheless, this growth was weakened by fuel prices for ten consecutive months. For example diesel was sold for CZK 32.70 per litre in May and petrol Natural 95 for CZK 33.90 per litre, on average. In case of diesel, it was the lowest value from June 2023 and in case of petrol Natural 95 even from September 2021,” noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.

Consumer prices increased by 2.4% in May, which was 0.6 percentage points up on April, year-on-year. This acceleration[1]⁾ of the year-on-year price growth occurred mainly in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages'. Prices of meat accelerated their increase to 3.6% (increase by 1.4% in April), cheese and curd to 6.8% (increase by 5.4% in April), eggs to 44.3% (increase by 37.1% in April), fruit to 15.0% (increase by 12.8% in April) and chocolate and chocolate products to 23.4% (increase by 17.8% in April). Prices of flour decreased by 7.3% in May (decrease by 14.2% in April) and prices of sugar by 24.4% (decrease by 32.4% in April.).

The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in May came again from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' (increase by 5.4%). Next in order of influence were prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where beside owner occupied housing costs, prices of actual rentals[2]⁾ increased by 5.7%, materials and services for maintenance and repair of the dwelling by 3.5%, water supply by 4.2%, sewage collection by 3.7% and heat and hot water by 4.0%. Prices of electricity decreased by 4.6% and natural gas by 8.4%, year-on-year. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of spirits increased by 1.9% and tobacco products by 7.2%. Prices of wine decreased by 1.9% and prices of beer by 1.0%, year-on-year. Price development in 'recreation and culture' came mainly from higher prices of package holidays by 4.6%. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services were higher by 4.6% and accommodation services by 7.7%. Year-on-year overall price level decrease in May came mainly from prices in 'transport', mainly due to prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, which dropped by 13.5%, year-on-year.

Owner occupied housing costs (imputed rentals) increased by 4.6%, year-on-year (increase by 4.1% in April), 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 102.1%, year-on-year. (More information: Methodological note.)

Prices of goods in total and services went up (0.9% and 4.9%, respectively).

Level of consumer price base index with base period the average of 2015 = 100, was 155.0% in May (154.2% in April).

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

Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) [3]⁾

According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in May increased by 0.5% month-on-month and by 2.3% (1.7% in April), year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in May 2025 amounted to 1.9%, year-on-year (2.2% in April), 2.1% in Germany and 4.3% in Slovakia. It was the highest in Estonia in May (4.6%) and the lowest in Cyprus (0.4%). 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 2.4% in April (0.1 percentage points down on March). In April, the rise in prices was the highest in Romania (4.9%) and the lowest in France (0.9%).

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

Starting from January 2026, the consumer price indices will be calculated on the base of updated Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (CZ-COICOP) see CZ-COICOP_2018

Starting from January 2026, also new index time series with the base period average of 2025 = 100 will be introduced. The indices to other bases will be calculated from this  time series (previous month = 100, corresponding period of last year = 100 and annual rolling average, i.e. the average of index numbers over the last 12 months to the average for the previous 12 months).