Food prices with reduced VAT in January 2020, after adjusting for the effect of the change in indirect taxes, increased by 7.6% month-on-month, stated analysts of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). This represents the steepest monthly rise since 1997. However, according to UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomír Koršňák, this was expected. "It should be said that January is, as it were, typical of a month-on-month rise in food prices, and this is repeated almost every year," added WOOD & Company analyst Eva Sadovská.
According to Koršňák, the dynamics of the year-on-year growth in food prices moderated from 5.2% to 4.4%, mainly due to a stronger base effect "when food prices were boosted at the beginning of last year by the eventually scrapped special levy for retail chains". According to Sadovská, various other factors have been affecting food prices in recent months, such as the African swine fever virus that has an impact on higher meat prices, as well as salary expenditures related to bonuses for work at night and weekend, and also the minimum wage growth.
