BRATISLAVA, February 13, (WEBNOVINY) — The growth rate of consumer prices in Slovakia modestly slowed down in January of this year. According to data provided by the Statistics Office, January inflation as measured by national methodology reached 3.9 percent. In December, inflation represented 4.4 percent. Month-on-month in the first month, prices increased by 1.4 percent, in particular owing to higher prices of energies and food.
Year-on-year, the most significant growth of 7.6 percent was recorded in prices of transport. Next were prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels up 5.7 percent, alcohol and tobacco up 5 percent, miscellaneous goods and services up 4.1 percent, health care up 3.6 percent, food and soft drinks up 3.5 percent, hotels, cafes and restaurants up 3 percent. Prices of clothing and footwear rose 2.6 percent, recreation and culture 0.7 percent, furniture, household equipment and routine household maintenance 0.3 percent. Only prices of postal and telecommunications services dropped 0.1 percent on the previous year.
In a monthly comparison with December, January prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels grew most, namely by 3.1 percent. Prices of food and beverages swelled 1.8 percent, prices of recreation and culture 1 percent, alcoholic drinks and tobacco 0.9 percent, miscellaneous goods and services 0.8 percent, transport 0.6 percent, furniture, household equipment and routine household maintenance 0.4 percent, health care, hotels and restaurants each 0.3 percent. On the other hand, prices of clothing and footwear dropped 0.9 percent. Prices of postal and telecommunications services and education remained at December level.
Annual core inflation, which monitors consumer prices excluding regulated prices and administrative interventions in the field of taxation, fell in January from December’s 2.3 percent to 2.6 percent. Net inflation, which unlike core inflation does not reflect developments in food prices, accelerated from 2.2 percent to 2.6 percent. On a monthly basis, core inflation in the first month was 0.7 percent, while net inflation reached 0.5 percent.
Following the historically low average inflation of 1 percent in Slovakia in 2010 due to a sharp weakening in demand in times of crisis, price development was back to the upside last year. The average increase in prices for last year reached 3.9 percent, in line with the Finance Ministry’s expectations. Prices of transport, energies, food and education rose the most last year. This year, the Finance Ministry expects inflation to slow down to 2.8 percent.
SITA
