The annual inflation rate in the last quarter of 2022 could reach 10% and thus decelerate in comparison to the trends in the third quarter, and the inflation for the whole of 2022 could be 10%, the Croatian Central Bank (HNB) says in its comment on the inflation figures.

The central bank’s comment came after the national statistical office (DZS) reported earlier on Friday that Croatia’s consumer prices increased by 12.8% in September 2022 from the same month in 2021, with inflation reaching a record high since the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) tracks this data.

The prices of goods and services for personal consumption, measured by the Consumer Price Index, also rose on a monthly basis, increasing by 1.5% from August 2022, while on an annual average basis they were 8.6% higher.

The HNB says in the comment that the annual inflation rate in September accelerated mainly due to the annual rise of the prices of the industrial products, notably clothes and footwear, personal cosmetic products and books and to some extent prices of services.

The energy prices contributed to the inflation due to a pronounced rise in the prices of solid fuels, while the BRENT crude oil prices fell in September by 9%  month on month.

The rise of food prices has mildly decelerated, partly due to the government’s decision to cap the prices of nine essential foodstuffs.

In Croatia, the Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICP) measure shows that actually the prices remained unchanged September in comparison to August. HICP is a tool used in the EU to measure prices.

Thus, HIPC showed that in Croatia the annual inflation rate was 12.6%, or 2.6 percentage points higher that in the euro area’s inflation rate.

The HNB assesses that the 2022 Q4 inflation rate in the country could slow down due to the pronounced drop in the crude pil prices and in the prices of other raw materials.

In addition, the prices of essential food products, electricity, natural gas and heat energy are still capped.