Croatia Inflation Accelerates To 3.5% In May

(RTTNews) - Consumer price inflation in Croatia climbed in May to its highest level in three months, largely led by strong increases in prices for food and services, preliminary data from the statistical office showed on Tuesday.

The consumer price index rose 3.5 percent year-on-year following a 3.2 percent increase in each of the previous two months, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics said. Inflation accelerated for the first time in four months and was the highest since January when it was 4.0 percent.

Services costs were 6.2 percent higher from a year ago. Prices in the food, beverages and tobacco group rose 5.1 percent. Energy prices increased 1.7 percent and prices of non-food industrial goods except energy edged up 0.1 percent.

The CPI rose 0.4 percent from April, when prices increased 0.6 percent. Among the main components, energy prices decreased 1.1 percent from the previous month.

The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 4.3 percent year-on-year following a 4.0 percent increase in April. The HICP climbed 0.6 percent month-on-month after a 0.7 percent gain.

The statistical data is set to release the final figures for May inflation on June 16.