In the coming months inflation should be around 3% in Estonia as a result of external factors and tax changes, said Kristjan Pungas, analyst at the Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Policy Department.
In March, price levels in Estonia and the eurozone in general were influenced by the increase of energy prices slowing down.
“At the beginning of March, the price of oil moved down by nearly a tenth as a result of the oil supplies of the U.S. increasing, which lowered fuel prices here compared to February,” Pungas said in a press release. “The exchange price of electricity also fell to the lowest level of the past ten months. As a result, the increase in prices slowed down from 9.5% in February to 7% in March.”
Food prices have increased quickly as of last fall, and in March, the increase totaled 4%, said Pungas. The price increase of services has been around 3% during the first months of the year.
The Estonian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) in March was 2.8% higher YoY, figures available from Statistics Estonia show. Compared to February, the index grew by 0.3%. (ERR/Business World Magazine)