Czech Republic: Inflation ticks up in March
Consumer prices rose 0.18% from the previous month in March, matching February’s reading. Looking at the details of the release, March’s result mainly reflected higher prices for transport and alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
Meanwhile, inflation increased to 2.3% in March from February’s 2.1%, which had marked the lowest reading since December 2018, therefore moving away from the midpoint of the Central Bank’s 1.0%–3.0% tolerance range. Lastly, annual average inflation moderated to 2.8% from February’s 2.9%.
Commenting on the release, Jakub Seidler, Czech Republic chief economist at ING, stated:
“Fuel prices are likely to continue rising in the coming months, albeit at a slower pace than in March, but their year-on-year growth will accelerate due to last year’s low base effect when fuel prices were at their lowest due to the fall in oil prices. Year-on-year dynamics of fuel prices will be affected by this, and inflation is likely to accelerate again close to the 3% threshold, but then this effect will begin to fade, and inflation will slow again.”