Annual harmonized inflation rose slightly in February, reaching 15.4%

Following the European harmonized methodology, consumer prices in February 2023 rose by 15.4% annually, in January 2022 this value was 15.1%. The month-on-month HICP inflation reached 1.1% in February.

The average annual rate of HICP inflation in February 2023 (the average of harmonized consumer price indices for the last 12 months compared to the average of the previous 12 months) reached a value of 13,3%. It is 9.3 percentage points more than its value in February last year. The average annual HICP inflation rate is an important indicator of a country’s price stability, its level is also considered as one of the four so-called Maastricht criteria that an EU Member State must meet before adopting the euro.

In February 2023, the harmonized consumer price indices grew by 1.1% month-on-month in total. The month-on-month increase in the price level was most affected by the increase in prices in the Food and non-alcoholic beverages division: the positive contribution of the entire division accounted for more than a third of the total month-on-month inflation (+0.48 percentage points). The second most significant influence on price growth in February compared to January price level was the Transport division (+0.14 p.p.).The third highest contribution to month-on-month inflation was recorded in the Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels division (+0.13 p.p.). The only division in which prices decreased in February compared to January was the division of Clothing and footwear (-0.03 p.p.).