Consumer prices in Croatia increased by 13.1% in December 2022, while inflation for the entire year was 10.8%, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Tuesday.

The latest figures show that the rise in consumer prices has slowed down on an annual basis after months of record-high annual inflation, with the latest record of 13.5% registered in November 2022.

Compared with December 2021, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased the most, by 19% on average, followed by the prices of restaurant and hotel services (+17.1%), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+16.1%),  housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+16%), clothing and footwear (+12.1%), miscellaneous goods and services (+11.5%), recreation and culture (+9.6%), transport (+8.4%), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+5.3%), and communication (+0.9%).

The rise in the annual inflation rate in December was mainly driven by increases in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.93 percentage points), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (+2.7 pp), transport (+1.24 pp), furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (+0.92 pp), and restaurants and hotels (+0.85 pp).

Observing special groups of products, the highest average annual increase was observed in food processing (+18%) with a growth contribution of 4.06 percentage points.

Compared with November 2022, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased the most, by 1.2%, followed by alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and recreation and culture (+0.81% each), and miscellaneous goods and services (+0.7%).

On the other hand, the prices of transport fell by 4%, followed by clothing and footwear (-2.8%), and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (-0.6%).

The DZS also released data on inflation measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which is a comparable measure of inflation among the countries of the European Union.

The prices of goods and services measured by the HICP fell by 0.1% in December 2022 compared with November 2022. Compared with December 2021, they went up by 12.7%, while their annual average growth was 10.7%.