Ljubljana, 30 October (STA) - Consumer prices remained unchanged on average in October on an annual basis, after the annual inflation rate stood at 6.9% last October. A deflation of 0.5% was meanwhile recorded on a monthly basis, mainly due to cheaper electricity and holiday packages, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.
In October, services were on average 3.2% more expensive than in the same month last year, while the prices of goods dropped by 1.6%.
In the past year, alcoholic beverages and tobacco saw the largest increase in prices (by 5%), followed by recreation and culture (3.3%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (1.4%).
On the other hand, the prices in the group housing and water, electricity and gas supply were lower by 8.6% compared to October 2023, with the prices of electricity dropping the most, by 22.7%. The prices in transportation were down by 3.1%.
As for the monthly inflation rate, the seasonal impact of changes of collections in clothing and footwear shops was still noticeable, the Statistics Office said. The prices of clothing were up by 5.3% compared to September, and of footwear by 6.3%.
Changes in the method for calculation of network charge meanwhile resulted in 9.3% cheaper electricity on a monthly basis, while the monthly deflation in October is also the result of cheaper holiday packages (-6.4%).
Notable drops in the average prices were also recorded in accommodation services (4.4%), housing rents (2.7%) and motor fuel (2.3%).
Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, no annual growth of consumer prices was recorded in October, while the growth was at 6.6% a year ago. The monthly price growth stood at -0.3%.