The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% in June 2012, continuing its upward trend of the months of May (+0.2%) and April (+0.8%).
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), this increase is related to the rise in prices of clothing and footwear by 0.9% from May to June.
It involves more precisely, the rise in clothing prices (+0.9%), footwear (+0.8%) and textiles (+0.8%).
Prices of the group “furniture, household items and maintenance” also grew by 0.7%, mainly due to higher prices of household appliances (+1.4%), articles of households (0.9%) and carpets and furnishings (+0.5%).
With the start of the summer season, the INS noted a 0.7% increase in prices of services of the group “restaurants and hotels,” a 0.5% growth in the group of miscellaneous goods and services and a 0.4% rise in the leisure and culture group.
The prices of recreational and cultural services rose 0.9% and those of other recreational items and equipment were up 0.4%.
Regarding prices of the group “food and drinks” recorded in June 2012, the INS showed a slight increase of 0.1%, resulting mainly from a 0.7% rise in prices for meat, and especially poultry (+3.3%), fresh fish (+0.6%) and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.3%).
In contrast, a decrease was recorded in prices of fresh vegetables (-0.7%), eggs (-3.3%) and fresh fruit (- 0.4%).
The inflation rate fell by 0.2% year on year. On annual basis, the consumer price index declined by 0.2% in June 2012 to stand at 5.4%, after increases of 5.6% and 5.7% respectively in May and April 2012.
The decrease in inflation was due mainly to the easing of the growth of prices of the food and beverage group from 7.7% in May 2012 to 7.2% in June.
The inflation rate excluding clothing and footwear was 5.2%, while core inflation (excluding food and fuel) is 5%.
