Croatia CPI Rises For Third Month

It was 5.25 per cent in January.

The Food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 7.1 per cent, which is 0.1 percentage point higher than the rate recorded in January.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) or inflation for the month of February rose by 0.5 percent to 185.5 (provisional) from 184.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

The primary articles index up 5% while the fuels index rose 21% and manufactured products index 3.66% in February. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index rose 2.7%. Outside of energy and food costs, so-called core prices rose 0.2%.

Although the inflation rates of cereals, rice and fruits witnessed an increase, vegetables prices declined by 8.05 per cent during February.

“This represents the first time in 15 months that the headline CPI has declined on year-on-year basis, representing the effects of slower rises in already high food and non-food prices and favourable base effects over 2016 prices”.

With wholesale price inflation touching a three year high in February the consumer price index (CPI) has moved up in tandem pushing up retail inflation from 3.2% in January 2017 to 3.7% in February.

Consumer prices in the States saw their smallest gain in February since July 2016 even as a measure of underlying cost pressures quickened to an August 2011 high. In 2015, prices on average fell by 0.5 percent, and in 2014 by 0.2 percent.

Madhavi Arora, economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank: “We are seeing a bit of an uptick in certain components of food inflation”. The initial estimate for monthly inflation was 0.1%.

The February reading all but assures that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later in the day.

High inflation hurts people’s buying power, while low inflation levels can indicate poor demand and weak economic activity. Such information and opinions are subject to change without notice, are for general information only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sales of any security or as personalized investment advice.