Annual inflation rises to 3.8% in April
Consumer prices in April, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.8% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.5% in April of last year and, as a result, the annual rate of inflation increased to 3.8%, up from 3.5% in March.
The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 0.5%, compared to an increase of 0.6% in April 2005.
The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, decreased from 2.8% in March to 2.7% in April.
The divergence between the HICP and the CPI in April is mainly due to the exclusion of mortgage interest repayments from the coverage of the HICP.
The most notable changes in the year were increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+13.2%), transport (+5.6%), health (+4.6%), education (+4.6%) and restaurants and hotels (+3.5%).
There were decreases in clothing and footwear (-1.7%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (-1.4%).
The annual rate of inflation for goods was 1.9% in April, while the corresponding rate for services was 5.3%.
The most significant monthly price changes were increases in housing water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.7%), transport (+1.4%) and restaurants and hotels (+0.7%).
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels costs rose with higher average mortgage interest repayments following the introduction of higher interest rates by the majority of financial institutions.
Prices also rose for home heating oil.
Transport rose with higher prices for petrol and diesel as well as increases for car-rental costs and bus fares.
These were partially offset by a decrease in air fares.
Restaurants and hotels rose with higher costs for accommodation, eating out and drinking out.
The CPI excluding tobacco index for April was 114.3, up 0.9% since March and up 3.8% in the year. The CPI excluding energy products index was up 0.7% since March and increased by 3.2% in the year.
