A pleasant surprise arrived at the end of last year

By: Trademagazin Date: 2024. 01. 12. 12:05

The inflation data for December was published this morning by the Central Statistical Office. Consumer prices fell by 0.3 percent on a monthly basis, and the annual index thus fell to 5.5 percent, which is substantially more favorable than the analyst consensus of 5.9 percent. On the other hand, core inflation rose again, this time by 0.2 percent on a monthly basis, and thus the annual core index stood at 7.6 percent in the last month of last year, writes János Nagy, Erste Bank’s macroeconomic analyst.

Your fresh facts are a pleasant surprise. Food products showed a decrease of 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, so their annual index was 4.8 percent. Vehicle fuel prices fell further – by 3.6 percent on a monthly basis – once again providing substantial support for continued disinflation. Less good news from the point of view of the durability of disinflation is that service inflation rose by 0.6 percent in December. This is considered a seasonally high value for the last month of the year. On an annual basis, services rose in price by 8.1 percent.