BRATISLAVA, December 15, (WEBNOVINY) – Growth of consumer prices in Slovakia measured by EU methodology continues to accelerate. According to the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic the annual growth of consumer prices measured by the harmonized index HICP reached 4.8 percent in November, which means an acceleration of 0.2 percentage points compared with the October growth pace. Consumer prices thus grew at the quickest pace in the eleventh month since August 2008. The average twelve-month inflation rate achieved 3.8 percent in November, up 0.3 percent from October.
Prices of transportation swelled the most in November in year-on-year terms, namely by 11.5 percent. Housing, water, electricity and other fuels reported a price increase of 8.3 percent and prices of education grew 5.9 percent. On the other hand prices of furniture, household equipment and regular home maintenance were the sole item to report a downturn of 0.4 percent on average.
In a monthly comparison, consumer prices measured by international methodology grew 0.5 percent. The Statistics Office found that also in this comparison transportation prices grew the most considerably, namely by 4.4 percent. Prices of foodstuffs and soft drinks were 0.5 percent higher than a month ago while the most significant drop was reported again with prices of furniture, household equipment and regular home maintenance, namely by 0.4 percent.
At the end of last year, year-on-year harmonized inflation reached 1.3 percent, while in the previous year, growth of consumer prices measured by the harmonized index stagnated due to weak demand. This year, inflation is expected to gradually accelerate. The predicted weaker economic performance next year should also slow the dynamics of price growth. The National Bank of Slovakia reduced its estimate of harmonized inflation for 2012 by 0.2 percentage points to 2.8 percent. Possible further consolidation measures might have a pro-growth effect on next year’s inflation.
SITA
