The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Estonia saw a slight negative change YoY in July, state agency Statistics Estonia reported, driven by decreasing electricity and fuel prices, as well as falling rent prices.
CPI fell by 0.9% YoY, but remained unchanged on the previous month. Cheaper electricity and fuel was in particular a factor over the month, too.
Goods were 0.2% cheaper and services 2% cheaper YoY, with overall regulated prices of goods and services falling by 7.2%, but non-regulated prices rising by 0.8%.
Compared with June, CPI was affected the most by cheaper electricity to the home, which cost 7% less in July, and also a 3.6% fall in gasoline prices. Vegetables cost 4.3% more, however.
Viktoria Trasanov, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said fuel, particularly diesel, exerted the biggest change over the year.
“Diesel fuel was 23.7% and petrol 7.7% cheaper. Another significant contributor to the index change was housing services, as electricity which reached homes was 16.1% and rents 8.9% cheaper than this time last year. Accommodation services prices dropped by nearly a quarter,” she said.
Diesel excise duties were cut during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in April, though the plan to do so predated the outbreak. Diesel still costs just under a euro per liter at pump.
Fruit prices moved in the opposite direction with an 18% rise and a 23% rise if confined to berries alone; meat prices rose by a little more than 6% over the year. Potatoes, however, cost 30% less than in July 2019 and fresh fish and butter also saw double-digit percentage price falls. (ERR/Business World Magazine)