Marginal acceleration was noted by inflation in October, according to ELSTAT’s monthly report, with the prices of food to “pinch” upwards.
Headline inflation accelerated to 2% in October from 1.9% in September, while Eurostat’s harmonized index stood at 1.7%. Food price increases are significantly above average. In meats +10%, fruits +9.1% and chocolate products +21.1%. In fish prices increased by 4.% and in dairy products by 4.4%, while in vegetables there was an annual decrease of 5.6%.
In housing, rents remain extremely high but with a clearly decelerating pace, at 8.9% year-on-year, from 9.9% in September.
In the main spending groups, the biggest annual increase is recorded in Hotels-Cafes-Restaurants with 6.5%. This is followed by Education with 2.8%, Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.3%, Clothing-Footwear with 1.9% and Housing with 1.4%. Leisure-Culture rose 1.0%, Transportation 0.7%, Health 0.6%, Communications 0.8%, Durables-Household Goods 0.7% and Other Goods-Services 0.5%.
In catering services, restaurants-patisseries-cafes-canteens increase prices by 7.8%, while hotels fall by 16.3% on an annual basis. In Education, pre-primary and secondary school fees are rising from 3.2%.
In Health, medical-dental-paramedical services increase by 2.7% and hospital care by 0.7%, while pharmaceuticals decrease by 0.9%. In Communications, telephone services recorded an increase of 1%.
In Transportation, increases are noted in new cars (+2.4%), spare parts-accessories (+4.1%), maintenance-repair of personal transportation equipment (+6.0%), other personal transportation services (+3.1%) and air tickets (+5.8%). Second-hand cars (−4.9%) and fuels and lubricants (−1.6%) are moving downwards.
In other goods and services, prices at hairdressing salons and personal care stores are up 4.1%, health insurance premiums are up 7.0% and other services are up 4.8%, while other personal care items are down 2.5% and motor insurance premiums are down 1.0%.