The growth of consumer prices in Slovakia fell to 11.9% year-on-year in May, and in month-on-month terms, it dropped by 0.1% – the first such decrease since December 2020 – the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic reported.

This is a y/y drop by almost 2 percentage points from the April y-o-y level of 13.8% and a third consecutive month of inflation dropping.

Y-o-y inflation returned to the values from April 2022 following a further decline in fuel prices and the lowest increase in food, housing, energy and services prices since January 2022.

“The slowdown in inflation growth in May was mainly influenced by the re-introduction of lunch subsidies in schools and kindergartens, as a result of which the prices of catering were significantly lower,” the country’s statisticians highlighted. They added that food prices, together with housing and energy prices, “usually have the greatest impact in the overall inflation”, and account for almost a half of the expenditures.

Despite the slowdown, prices were higher in 11 of the 12 monitored expenditure groups. Housing and energy prices increased by 10.9% in May, while food prices were up 21.9% y-o-y. Food prices have been growing for the third year in a row.

In m-o-m terms, the drop in fuel prices by 2.6%, and transport services by 3.1% reduced prices for the transport sector by 1.5%, significantly influencing the overall decrease by 0.1%. Prices of food increased by 0.4%, preventing a stronger overall drop.

The re-introduction of catering subsidies in kindergartens and primary schools from May 2023 resulted in a 4.5% m-o-m drop in prices for the entire restaurant and hotel sector.

In January-May 2023, the overall growth of inflation was 14.2% y-o-y.