Prices Fall By 1.7% In The Year To February

This compares to an increase of 1.2% recorded in February of last year.

As a result, prices on average, as measured by the CPI, were 1.7% lower in February compared with February 2008.

The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased by 0.2% in the month, compared to an increase of 1.2% in February of last year.

As a result, Consumer Prices, as measured by the HICP, decreased from 1.1% in January to 0.1% in February.

The most notable changes in the year were decreases in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (down 12.6%), Clothing & Footwear (down 11.2%) and Transport (down 4.8%).

There were increases in Miscellaneous Goods &Services (up 8.3%), Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (up 6.2%), Education (up 5.5%) and Health (up 4.8%).

Price increases were recorded for 8 of the 12 COICOP groups (representing 60% of the total basket of goods and services), while prices fell at a faster rate for the remaining 4 categories.

Services prices fell by 0.7% in the year to February, while Goods fell by 2.8%.

The most significant monthly price changes were decreases in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (down 4.5%) and Food & Non-alcoholic Beverages (down 0.4%).

There were increases in Clothing & Footwear (up 7.5%), Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (up 1.7%) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (up 0.8%).

The main factors contributing to the monthly change were as follows: Clothing & Footwear and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance prices increased due to a recovery in prices following the traditional January Sales.

Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels fell due to a decrease in average mortgage interest repayments and lower private rents.

The CPI excluding tobacco index for February decreased by 0.4% in the month and was down 2.1% in the year. The CPI excluding energy products index was down by 0.5% since January and decreased by 1.4% in the year.

The CPI excluding mortgage interest rose by 0.2% in the month and was up by 0.5% in the year.