The Croatian inflation rate, measured by the consumer price index, was 3.4% year-on-year in December 2024. This is the third month in a row in which inflation has accelerated, as the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) announced on Tuesday.

The DZS published its first estimate of the consumer price index, according to which the inflation rate in December 2024 was 3.4% compared to December 2023. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.1% compared to November 2024.

Inflation rate 5.6% for services, 4.8% for food, beverages and tobacco products

A months-long trend of slowing annual price growth came to an end in October 2024, when inflation rose by 2.2%. The acceleration continued in November with a rise of 2.8%, and now also in December.

According to an initial estimate on Tuesday, inflation for the whole of 2024 was 3%.

Broken down by the main index components, the estimated annual inflation rate was 5.6% for services, 4.8% for food, beverages and tobacco, 1.6% for energy and 0.7% for industrial non-food excluding energy.

On a monthly basis, compared to November 2024, prices for services rose by 0.6%, prices for food, beverages and tobacco products and energy by 0.4%, while prices for industrial non-food products fell by 0.9%.

After Croatia, the highest inflation rates were recorded in Belgium

The DZS announced that the final Consumer Price Index data for December, classified according to ECOICOP (European Classification of Individual Consumption according to Purpose), will be published on 16 January.

According to Eurostat’s flash estimate published on Tuesday, Croatia’s annual inflation rate in December 2024, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), was 4.5%, the highest among all eurozone member states.

In the eurozone as a whole, the average annual inflation rate in December was 2.4%. After Croatia, the highest inflation rates were recorded in Belgium (4.4%), Estonia (4.1%) and the Netherlands (3.9%).