Annual harmonized inflation in May reached 12.3%

Following the European harmonized methodology, consumer prices in May 2023 rose by 12.3% annually, in April 2023 this value was 14.0%. The month-on-month HICP inflation reached a negative value of -0.1% in May, the last month-on-month decrease in the price level was recorded in December 2020.

The average annual rate of HICP inflation (comparing change in the average price level for the average of the harmonized consumer price indices for the last 12 months compared to the average of the previous 12 months) reached in May 2023 the value 14.1%. The annual HICP inflation (comparing the price level in a given month against the price level in the same month of the previous year) reached in May 2023 the value 12.3%, it was lower than the average annual rate of HICP inflation. The average annual HICP inflation rate is an important indicator of a country’s price stability, its level is also considered as one of the four so-called Maastricht criteria that an EU Member State must meet before adopting the euro.

In May 2023, the harmonized consumer price indices decreased by 0.1% month-on-month in total. The month-on-month decrease in the price level was most affected by the decrease in prices in the Restaurants and hotels division (the total negative contribution of -0.32 percentage points to month-on-month inflation was most affected by the re-introduction of lunch subsidies in primary schools and in the last year of kindergartens). The second most significant influence on the drop in prices in May compared to the price level in April had the Transport division (-0.10 p.p.) - mainly caused by the reduction in fuel prices. On the contrary, the highest positive contributions to month-on-month inflation were recorded in the Food and non-alcoholic beverages division (the positive contribution of the entire division amounted to +0.11 p.p.) and in the Miscellaneous goods and services division (+0.07 p.p.).