Inflation in the Czech Republic continues to slow down, reaching 11.1% year-on-year in May, 1.6 percentage points less than in April. In month-on-month comparison, inflation in May increased by 0.3%. In April, there was a decrease of 0.2 percentage points. The Czech Statistical Office (CSU) published the data on Monday.
According to Pavla Šedivá, Head of the Department of Consumer Price Statistics at CSU, “In May, prices increased by about 11% compared to last year, and their year-on-year growth has decreased since February. The only item in the consumer basket where prices fell compared to last year was transportation, mainly due to falling fuel prices.”
The slowdown in the year-on-year growth of consumer prices was due to prices in the housing, food, and non-alcoholic beverages categories.
Year-on-year, natural gas prices slowed down to 47.6% (in April 53.1%) and solid fuels to 39.4% (in April 47.6%). Specific food items that helped to slow down the growth were bread prices at 15.8% (in April 21.1%), meat at 8.7% (in April 12.7%), semi-skimmed milk for long-term storage at 5.4% (in April 19.2%), and eggs at 32.3% (in April 41.2%). Butter prices were nearly a fifth lower year-on-year.
Rents (+6.8%), water (+16.3%), sewage (+30.3%), electricity (+24.8%), and heating and hot water (+41.3%) were the most significant contributors to the year-on-year growth. “Next in order of impact were priced in the food and non-alcoholic beverages categories, where rice prices increased by 23.2%, margarine, and other vegetable fats by 25.8%, vegetables by 21.5% (with potato prices being 22.9% higher), and sugar by 58.7%,” added the statisticians.
The total prices of goods increased by 12.5% year-on-year and prices of services by 8.9%.
In the month-on-month comparison, the most expensive food items were potatoes (+6%), eggs (+5.5%), fruit (+4.5%), and smoked meat (+3%). Spirits also increased by almost four percent. Butter was 4.2% cheaper, and semi-skimmed long-life milk was 1.9% more affordable.
Electricity prices increased by 0.6% month-on-month, and rent, heating, and hot water increased by 0.5% each. Fuel and oil prices were 3.9% lower. The total costs of goods and services increased by 0.3% each.