“The most significant price increases were recorded in housing, transport, and food,” said Jiří Mrázek, director of the ČSO’s Price Statistics Department.
In terms of housing, the most significant year-on-year price increases were for electricity (22.6 percent) and natural gas (28.3 percent).In terms of food, bakery products, and cereals increased by 11.3 percent, milk, eggs, and cheese increased by 8.8 percent, vegetables increased by 8%, and soft drinks decreased by 1%.
Car prices were higher, up 10.5 percent, and fuel and oil prices by 31 percent in transport.
“Given February inflation, it cannot be ruled out that the Czech National Bank will raise its main interest rate to five percent at its March meeting,” Akcenta analyst Miroslav Novák noted.
At the same time, he expects inflation to show strong growth next month. The reason for this is the sharp rise in oil, natural gas, and fuels, especially as February prices were significantly lower than today. The weaker koruna must be added to this. “The probability that we will get significantly above 12 percent annual inflation in March is very high,” he said.
Ciftin analyst Tomáš Volf also warns against a more dramatic rise in inflation in March. “We have to remember that this is data for February, so relatively fresh, but still, the effects of the war in Ukraine are not yet considered. They will only become fully apparent in the March data, “he pointed out.
Month-on-month growth of 1.3 percent
Consumer prices increased by 1.3 percent month on month in February. Electricity rose by 3.2 percent in the housing section and natural gas by 5.6 percent. Among food items, prices rose mainly for vegetables (5.9 percent). On the other hand, the cost of pork fell by two percent, while eggs became even cheaper by four percent.
Because of the war in Ukraine, analysts say it is now virtually impossible to estimate the full-year growth in consumer prices.