Consumer price indices - inflation - April 2022

Consumer prices in April increased by 1.8%, month-on-month. This development came primarily from higher prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' and in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages'. The year-on-year growth of consumer prices amounted to 14.2% in April, which was 1.5 percentage points up on March.

Month-on-month comparison

Consumer prices in April increased by 1.8%, month-on-month. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', mainly prices of electricity were higher by 4.3%, natural gas by 4.7%, heat and hot water by 2.8%, materials and services for maintenance and repair of the dwelling by 2.3% and solid fuels by 3.9%. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', mainly prices of meat increased by 8.7% (of which prices of pork were higher by 23.3%, month-on-month), vegetables by 4.3%, sugar by 17.9%, UHT semi-skimmed milk by 6.8%, eggs by 8.4%, flour by 21.9% and oils and fats by 2.4%. Month-on-month price decrease was observed in 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco', where prices of wine were lower by 4.1%, spirits by 2.5% and beer by 1.2%. In 'transport', prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment fell by 3.3%.

Prices of goods in total went up by 1.9% and prices of services by 1.6%.

Year-on-year comparison

“Consumer prices increased by 14.2% in comparison with last April. This was the most in last three decades, when in December 1993 the year-on-year price growth reached 18.2%. The April year-on-year index was mostly affected by prices of housing, fuels and food,” noted Pavla Sediva, head of Consumer Price Statistics Unit of CZSO.

Consumer prices increased by 14.2% in April, i.e. 1.5 percentage points up on March. Year-on-year price growth acceleration¹⁾occurred mainly in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' and in 'food and non-alcoholic beverages'. In 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', prices of electricity were higher by 30.1% (increase by 24.7% in March), natural gas by 44.2% (increase by 37.7% in March), solid fuels by 24.1% (increase by 19.9% in March) and heat and hot water by 17.5% (increase by 13.9% in March). In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', price growth of flour accelerated to 52.3% (increase by 30.3% in March), meat to 11.0% (increase by 2.2% in March), UHT semi-skimmed milk to 31.3% (increase by 20.1% in March), eggs to 14.2% (increase by 1.9% in March) and sugar to 25.5% (increase by 10.3% in March). In 'restaurants and hotels', prices of catering services increased by 19.5% (increase by 15.0% in March). On the other hand, price growth in 'alcoholic beverages, tobacco' slowed down. Prices of spirits decreased by 4.1% (increase by 0.7% in March), prices of wine remained unchanged year-on-year in April (increase by 5.0% in March) and prices of beer were higher by 2.0% (increase by 3.8% in March).

The biggest influence on the growth of the year-on-year price level in April came again from prices in 'housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels', where besides owner occupied housing costs, also prices of actual rentals increased by 4,5%, prices of water supply by 5.3% and sewage collection by 6.4%. Next in order of influence were prices in 'transport', where prices of motor cars were higher by 13.8% and fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment by 41.5%. In 'food and non-alcoholic beverages', prices of bread were higher by 20.3%, year-on-year, butter by 31.6% and potatoes by 19.2%. Prices of garments increased by 21.4% and shoes and other footwear by 15.2%.

Imputed rentals (owner occupied housing costs) were higher by 17.7% (increase by 16.3% in March) mainly due to the growth of prices of construction materials, construction works and prices of new flats for own housing. The overall consumer price index excluding imputed rentals for housing was 113.7%, year-on-year. (More information about index of imputed rentals: Methodological note.)

Prices of goods in total and services went up (15.3% and 12.1%, respectively).

Inflation rate, i.e. the increase in the average consumer price index in the twelve months to April 2022 compared with the average CPI in the previous twelve months, amounted to 7.0% (6.1% in March).

Harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) ²⁾

According to preliminary calculations, the HICP in Czechia in April went up by 1.8%, month-on-month and 13.2%, year-on-year. According to flash estimates of Eurostat, the MUICP (Monetary Union Index of Consumer Prices) in April 2022 amounted to 7.5% year-on-year (7.4% in March), 10.9% in Slovakia and 7.8% in Germany. 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 7.8% in March (1.6 percentage points up on February). The rise in prices in March was the highest in Lithuania (15.6%) and the lowest in Malta (4.5%).

(More information on the Eurostat’s web pages: HICP.)

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Starting from April 2022, data classified by basic and detailed breakdown according to ECOICOP classification and consumer prices of selected goods and services are published in Public database at the same time as News release.

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¹⁾Acceleration/slowdown of the year-on-year price index growth is difference between current and previous year-on-year index. It therefore depends on the change of current month-on-month index and also on the change of base – month-on-month index (growth/decrease) in the same month of the last year.
²⁾Imputed rentals are excluded from the HICP.

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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: 012018-22 Consumer Price Indices – Basic Breakdown (periodicity: monthly), 012023-22 Consumer price Indices – Detailed Breakdown (periodicity: monthly) and 012019-22 Consumer Price Indices – Detailed Breakdown (periodicity: annually)
Internet: https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/inflation-consumer-prices
Next News Release: 10 June 2022
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Attachments

⇩ aisc051022.docx
Annexes:
⇩ Table 1 Consumer Price Index (indices, inflation rate)
⇩ Table 2 Consumer Price Index (breakdown of the growth – month-on-month, core inflation)
⇩ Table 3 Consumer Price Index (breakdown of the growth – month-on-month, year-on-year)
⇩ Table 4 Consumer Price Index (social groups of households – indices, inflation rate)
⇩ Table 5 Consumer Price Index (analytical table, specific indices)
⇩ Chart 1 Consumer Price Index (year-on-year changes, changes on base year)
⇩ Chart 2 Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices – International comparison