Year-on-year inflation in Slovakia reached 14.9 percent in October 2022, the highest figure seen since the beginning of the millennium, the Statistics Office reported on Monday. Meanwhile, consumer prices of goods and services rose by 1.2 percent month-on-month in October. Rapidly growing prices occurred in two segments - food and non-alcoholic beverages, and housing and energy. These sectors had the biggest impact on overall inflation, as they make up almost half of household expenditures. Food prices went up by 26.8 percent y-o-y in October, while the prices of non-alcoholic beverages recorded double-digit growth for the fourth month in a row. Price growth in the segment of transport, which has been driven by more expensive fuel for a long time, slackened to 20.4 percent y-o-y in October. The consumer prices index recorded y-o-y growth of 14.6 percent in October in the category of employee households, 15.5 percent in low-income households and 16.4 percent in pensioner households. Meanwhile, consumer prices for the first ten months of 2022 increased by 12.2 percent when compared to the same period in 2021. They grew by 12.1 percent in employee households, 12.4 percent in low-income households and 13.3 percent in pensioner households. "A high comparison base might slightly slow down the acceleration in y-o-y inflation at the end of the year, but the inflation rate could still exceed 15 percent in December 2022. Regulated energy prices for households will be decisive for inflation in January. If market prices are fully reflected in prices for households, inflation might even double and move around 30 percent in January. However, we don't view this scenario as likely, as Government measures should at least partly dampen down the increase in regulated energy prices," said Korsnak. "We expect inflation to remain above 15 percent in the upcoming months. Food prices will grow in the next few months, partly due to increasing energy prices and partly due to worse harvests in several European countries that suffered from droughts. We predict average inflation for the whole of this year to stand at about 12 percent. However, we'll face another acceleration in inflation in early 2023, when an increase in regulated energy prices will be reflected in inflation," added 365.bank analyst Jana Glasova.
Source: TASR
