Croatia Inflation Accelerates As Estimated In May

(RTTNews) - Consumer price inflation in Croatia climbed to a three-month high in May as initially estimated, led by higher costs of food, services and utilities, latest figures from the statistical office showed on Monday.

The consumer price index rose 3.5 percent year-on-year following a 3.2 percent increase in each of the previous two months, data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics revealed.

Headline inflation was unrevised from its initial estimates released on June 3. Inflation accelerated for the first time in four months and was the highest since January when it was 4.0 percent.

In May, the biggest increases in prices were recorded in categories such as restaurants and hotels, miscellaneous goods and services, recreation and culture, food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, education and health.

Services costs grew 6.2 percent from the same month last year. Prices in the food, beverages and tobacco group were 5.1 percent higher. Energy prices rose 1.5 percent and prices of non-food industrial goods except energy edged up 0.1 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes fresh food and energy, was 3.6 percent in May.

The CPI rose 0.3 percent from April, slightly less than the 0.4 percent reported on June 3. Prices increased 0.6 percent in April. Among the main components, energy prices decreased 1.2 percent from the previous month.

The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 4.3 percent year-on-year following a 4.0 percent increase in April. The HICP climbed 0.5 percent month-on-month, which was a tad slower than the 0.6 percent reported earlier, after a 0.7 percent gain in the previous month.