Consumer prices in Croatia in October 2018 were 1.6 percent higher than in the same month of 2017 and 0.6 percent higher than in September 2018, the state statistics bureau reported on Friday.

Year on year, inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, rose faster in October than in September, when it reached 1.4 percent, but was slower than in August and July, when it stood at 2.1 percent in both months.

In June, inflation was, at 2.4 percent, at its highest level since April 2013.

Cumulatively, in the first ten months of 2018, compared with the same period of 2017, the average inflation rate picked up to 1.6 percent, from 1.5 percent in the first nine months of the year.

Excluding energy and food prices, the annual inflation rate in the first ten months of this year remained at 0.9 percent, Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in an analysis of the report.

The increase in consumer prices this year was mostly spurred by energy and food prices. Core inflation, which excludes prices of agricultural products and administratively regulated prices, is expected to stay below 1 percent this year, RBA analysts said.

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