Ljubljana, 30 December (STA) - Slovenia's annual inflation rate stood at 1.9% in December, while in monthly comparison consumer prices dropped by 0.3% on average from November, the Statistics Office said on Monday. Average annual inflation was at 2% in 2024, after it stood at 7.4% in 2023.
Services prices went up by 2.7% on average in a year and goods prices by 1.4%.
The main drivers of annual inflation were higher food and non-alcoholic beverages prices, while the drop in monthly comparison was mostly the result of lower prices in cultural and recreation services.
The annual growth rate, still considerably lower than the 4.2% recorded in December 2023 and 0.1 point higher than in November 2024, was pushed up by 0.5 points as a result of 2.6% higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Higher prices in the group restaurants and hotels (up 4.1%) contributed another 0.3 points to annual inflation, while 0.2 points each was contributed by price increases in the groups alcoholic beverages and tobacco, clothing and footwear, miscellaneous goods and services, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and transport.
At monthly level, deflation was mostly the result of a 0.3 point-contribution by 2.7% lower prices in culture and recreation. Another 0.1 points was added by cheaper clothing and footwear. Other price drops in December contributed an additional 0.2 points.
On the other hand, deflation was slightly eased by higher prices in restaurants and hotels and higher prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, and products and services in transport.
Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, the annual growth of prices in December was 2%, while it was 3.8% a year ago. The monthly deflation stood at 0.1%.
