Baltic inflation rates continue to fall

  • 2008-10-08
  • TBT Staff in cooperation with BNS

One of the main contributors to Estonian inflation was increased tobacco prices. (Photo by Cesar Astudillo)

RIGA - Inflationrates in the Baltic states continued to fall inSeptember, with Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian year-on-year rates reaching 15.9percent, 13.9 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

The Latvian central statistics office said that consumerprices in the country grew by 1.1 percent in September.

In September prices rose by 0.9 percent for goods and by 1.7 percent forservices, while over the past years prices surged 14.5 percent for goods and15.9 percent for services.

In month-on-month comparison, the Latvian consumer price index in Septemberwas mainly influenced by price hikes for footwear and clothing, education andcatering services, as well as a drop in fuel prices. Over the past 12 months,meanwhile, food products kept the consumer price index down 0.39 percentagepoints, as food prices showed a considerably smaller increase than a year ago.

In Estonia,consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent from August and in comparison with the samemonth a year ago the price rise slowed to 10.5 percent.

The September inflation is largely due to a 22 percent jump in the prices oftobacco products caused by the excise duty hike in summer. The rise in tobaccoprices accounts for nearly two-thirds of the monthly inflation.

The impact of domestic economy factors on price pressure continues weakeningsupported by the slowing wage growth. The rise in the prices of services hasslowed from 11 percent at the beginning of the year to 8.7 percent. A 2.9percent drop in rentals in September reflects the slump in the real estatesegment, the central bank said.

In Lithuania,meanwhile, the rise of consumer prices mostly resulted on a 3.8 percentincrease in the prices of clothes and footwear and a 0.4 percent growth in foodprices. The rise was slightly offset by a 1.8 percent decline in the prices ofcommunication goods and services and a 1 percent drop in the prices of leisureand culture.

Compared with August, the prices of consumer goods notched up by 0.6 percentin September, while the prices of consumer services edged up 0.2 percent.