Consumer price indices - inflation - December 2023
Average inflation rate stood at 10.7% in 2023
Consumer prices decreased by 0.4%, month-on-month. This development came mainly from price decrease in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages'. The year-on-year growth of consumer prices amounted to 6.9% in December, which was 0.4 percentage points down on November. The average inflation rate for 2023 as a whole was 10.7%.
Month-on-month comparison
Consumer prices in December decreased by 0.4%, month-on-month. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', prices of most of surveyed items were lower. Mainly prices of fruit were lower by 5.6%, smoked meat and sausages by 2.7%, non-alcoholic beverages by 1.5%, cheese and curd by 2.1%, margarine and other vegetable fats by 6.6% and poultry by 1.2%. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of wine decreased by 5.2%, beer by 3.0% and spirits by 2.6%. Price development in 'transport' was mainly influenced by lower prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment by 4.7%. Average price of petrol Natural 95 (CZK 36.32 per litre) was the lowest from January 2022. Month-on-month overall price level increase came mainly from prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where prices of electricity were higher by 1.0% and natural gas by 0.4%. In food, mainly prices of potatoes were higher by 6.5%.
Prices of goods in total decreased by 0.8%, while prices of services went up by 0.2%.
Year-on-year comparison
Consumer prices increased by 6.9% in December, i.e. 0.4 percentage points down on November. Without including influence of Saving tariff into consumer price index in 2022, year-on-year price growth would have reached value of 4.2% (More information about electricity price index: see Note).
The slowdown1) of the year-on-year price growth came mainly from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', where most of surveyed food items moderated their year-on-year price growth or deepened their decrease. Prices of smoked meat and sausages were higher by 0.6% in December (increase by 3.4% in November) and prices of fruit by 5.8% (increase by 8.4% in November). Mainly prices of UHT semi-skimmed milk decreased by 28.3% (decrease by 19.5% in November), prices of cheese and curd by 5.4% (decrease by 2.4% in November), prices of eggs by 30.3% (decrease by 25.5% in November). On the other hand, in 'transport', prices moderated their year-on-year decrease. Prices of fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment were lower by 2.9% (decrease by 8.8% in November), mainly due to their more significant month-on-month price decrease in December 2022.
The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in December came from prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where prices of actual rentals2) increased by 7.3%, materials and services for maintenance and repair of the dwelling by 5.5%, water supply by 16.3%, sewage collection by 26.9%, electricity by 142.4%, heat and hot water by 24.2%. Prices of natural gas dropped by 7.7%, year-on-year and solid fuels by 2.0%. In 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', prices of spirits were higher by 2.1%, wine by 3.6%, beer by 6.2%, tobacco products by 7.0%. In 'recreation and culture', prices of package holidays increased by 7.5%. In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services increased by 8.1% and prices of accommodation services by 11.4%. Year-on-year price level decrease in December came mainly from prices in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' (decrease by 0.3%) and in 'transport' (decrease by 0.2%).
Owner occupied housing costs (imputed rentals) increased by 0.6% year-on-year (increase by 0.5% in November). The overall consumer price index excluding owner occupied housing costs was 107.7%, year-on-year. (More information: Methodological note.)
Prices of goods in total and services went up (7.6% and 5.7%, respectively).
Level of consumer price base index with base period the average of 2015 = 100, was 147.6% in December (148.2% in November).
Average inflation rate
“Average inflation rate for 2023 was 10.7%. It was 4.4 percentage point less than in 2022. Prices of goods in total rose by 12.1% and prices of services by 8.4% in 2023,“ noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.
(A summary of the development of the consumer price index in 2023 is a part of the Q4 analysis, which is released at the same time.)
Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP)3)
According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in December decreased by 0.4% month-on-month and increased by 7.6% (8.0% in November), year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in December 2023 amounted to 2.9% year-on-year (2.4% in November), 3.8% in Germany. It was the highest in Slovakia in December (6.6%) and the lowest in Belgium and Italy (equally by 0.5%). According to preliminary data of Eurostat, the year-on-year change in the average harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in the EU27 member states amounted to 3.1% in November (0.5 percentage points down on October). In November, the rise in prices was the highest in Czechia (8.0%) and the lowest in Belgium (decrease by 0.8%).
(More information on the Eurostat’s web pages: HICP.)
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Starting from January 2024, the consumer price indices will be counted on updated weights, which will be determined primarily on the base of household expenditure in 2022 and will be modified by the estimate of household expenditure in 2023. These indices will be chained at all levels of the consumer basket with the base period average of 2015 = 100. Thereby, a continuation of the existing index time series, from which indices to other bases will be derived (previous month = 100, corresponding period of the previous year = 100 and annual rolling average, i.e. the average of index numbers over the last 12 months to the average for the previous 12 months) will be ensured.
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2) Actual rentals includes both newly concluded contracts and existing ones
3) Imputed rentals are excluded from the HICP.
Notes:
Responsible manager of the CZSO: Jiri Mrazek, Director of Price Statistics Department, phone (+420) 274052533, email: jiri.mrazek@czso.cz
Contact: Pavla Sediva, Head of the Consumer Price Statistics Unit, phone (+420) 274052138, email: pavla.sediva@czso.cz
Data source: Direct field survey of prices, centrally surveyed prices and reporting
End of data collection: 20th day of the reference month / End of data processing: 3rd day of the month that follows the reference month
Related publications: 012018-23 Consumer Price Indices – Basic Breakdown (periodicity: monthly) and 012019-23 Consumer Price Indices – Detailed Breakdown (periodicity: annually)
Internet: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/inflation-consumer-prices
Next News Release: 15 February 2024
Text not edited for language
Related analysis: Analysis - Consumer price indices - 4. quarter of 2023
Attachments
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Annexes:
- year 2024 | April 2024 | March 2024 | February 2024 | January 2024
- year 2023 | December 2023 | November 2023 | October 2023 | September 2023 | August 2023 | July 2023 | June 2023 | May 2023 | April 2023 | March 2023 | February 2023 | January 2023
- year 2022 | December 2022 | November 2022 | October 2022 | September 2022 | August 2022 | July 2022 | June 2022 | May 2022 | April 2022 | March 2022 | February 2022 | January 2022
- year 2021 | December 2021 | November 2021 | October 2021 | September 2021 | August 2021 | July 2021 | June 2021 | May 2021 | April 2021 | March 2021 | February 2021 | January 2021
- year 2020 | December 2020 | November 2020 | October 2020 | September 2020 | August 2020 | July 2020 | June 2020 | May 2020 | April 2020 | March 2020 | February 2020 | January 2020
- year 2019 | December 2019 | November 2019 | October 2019 | September 2019 | August 2019 | July 2019 | June 2019 | May 2019 | April 2019 | March 2019 | February 2019 | January 2019
- year 2018 | December 2018 | November 2018 | October 2018 | September 2018 | August 2018 | July 2018 | June 2018 | May 2018 | April 2018 | March 2018 | February 2018 | January 2018
- year 2017 | December 2017 | November 2017 | October 2017 | September 2017 | August 2017 | July 2017 | June 2017 | May 2017 | April 2017 | March 2017 | February 2017 | January 2017
- year 2016 | December 2016 | November 2016 | October 2016 | September 2016 | August 2016 | July 2016 | June 2016 | May 2016 | April 2016 | March 2016 | February 2016 | January 2016
- year 2015 | December 2015 | November 2015 | October 2015 | September 2015 | August 2015 | July 2015 | June 2015 | May 2015 | April 2015 | March 2015 | February 2015 | January 2015
- year 2014 | December 2014 | November 2014 | October 2014 | September 2014 | August 2014 | July 2014 | June 2014 | May 2014 | April 2014 | March 2014 | February 2014 | January 2014
- year 2013 | December 2013 | November 2013 | October 2013 | September 2013 | August 2013 | July 2013 | June 2013 | May 2013 | April 2013 | March 2013 | February 2013 | January 2013
- year 2012 | December 2012 | November 2012 | October 2012 | September 2012 | August 2012 | July 2012 | June 2012 | May 2012 | April 2012 | March 2012 | February 2012 | January 2012
- year 2011 | December 2011 | November 2011 | October 2011 | September 2011 | August 2011 | July 2011 | June 2011 | May 2011 | April 2011 | March 2011 | February 2011 | January 2011
- year 2010 | December 2010 | November 2010 | October 2010 | September 2010 | August 2010 | July 2010 | June 2010 | May 2010 | April 2010 | March 2010 | February 2010 | January 2010
Published: 11.01.2024
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.
Contact: Information Services Unit - Headquarters, tel.: +420 274 056 789, email: infoservis@czso.cz