Consumer prices in Slovakia fell for the second month in a row, edging down by 0.1% in March 2014, the same as in the previous month, statistics office data showed. On a monthly basis, the CPI index remained unchanged in March, after falling by 0.1% in February.

Prices of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which have the strongest weight in the consumer basket, declined by 1.1% y/y in March, following a 0.9% annual decrease in February. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which have the second strongest weight in the basket, shrank 0.3% on the month in March slightly easing the annual growth of the component to 0.5% from 0.6% in February.

The annual core inflation stood at 0.2% in March, while a month earlier it was negative at 0.1%.

IntelliNews comment: Slovakia’s headline inflation has been easing gradually since November 2011. The central bank’s latest forecast sees the annual inflation easing to 0.2% at end-2014 from 1.4% the year before -  a much lower rate compared to 2012 (+3.6%) and 2011 (+3.9%). The inflation is expected to remain subdued in the first half of the year and to gradually start accelerating in the next six months. The International Monetary Fund is expecting Slovakia’s end-year inflation to be 0.7% y/y, while analysts from local commercial banks, surveyed each month by the central bank, expect the end-year inflation to reach 1.5% this year on recovering domestic demand.