Czech headline inflation accelerates in December

Czech consumer price inflation accelerated in the month of December. On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation accelerated 0.1 percentage points to 3.2 percent. On a sequential basis, the consumer prices rose 0.2 percent on price rise in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’. For the whole of 2019, the average inflation rate came in at 2.8 percent, showed Czech Statistical Office.

Sequentially, price growth in ‘food and non-alcoholic beverages’ was mainly driven by vegetable prices, which rose 4.4 percent. Prices of non-alcoholic beverages rose 2.5 percent. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' prices of electricity were mainly higher by 0.8 percent. ‘Transport’ prices were impacted by higher prices of motor cars by 0.9 percent.

The fall in overall consumer price level in December was mainly due to price fall in ‘alcoholic beverages, tobacco’, where prices of wine dropped 2.6 percent and prices of spirits by 1.2 percent. In ‘miscellaneous goods and services’, mainly prices of goods and services for personal care fell 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, prices of goods in total and prices of services rose 0.2 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, acceleration was seen in ‘alcoholic beverages, tobacco’, where prices of spirits rose 4 percent. Price of transport was impacted by a deceleration in price of fuels and lubricants, falling 1.2 percent. Price growth of food and non-alcoholic beverages slowed down in the month. Prices in ‘housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ mainly influenced the headline growth year-on-year.

Goods prices rose 3.1 percent year-on-year, whereas prices of services rose 3.6 percent. The overall consumer price index excluding imputed rentals for housing came in at 103.1 percent.

For the whole of 2019, the average inflation came in at 2.8 percent, up 0.7 percentage points from 2018. Prices of goods in total were up 2.3 percent, whereas prices of services rose 3.7 percent year-on-year.