Stats: EU-harmonised Inflation Up to 3.5 percent Y-o-Y in October

Bratislava, November 19 (TASR) - Year-on-year (y-o-y) inflation measured by the EU's Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) amounted to 3.5 percent in October 2024, up by 0.6 percentage points (p.p.) from the previous month, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday. In a month-on-month comparison, prices rose by 0.8 percent on average. The main contributor to the increase was the category of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which contributed 0.55 percentage points to m-o-m inflation. Other main contributors to m-o-m inflation were clothing and footwear (0.06 p.p.), restaurants and hotels (0.04 p.p.), and furniture, furnishings and common household maintenance (0.04 p.p.). Meanwhile, the main mitigating factor on month-on-month inflation was provided by transport (-0.05 p.p.). The average harmonised inflation rate for the 12-month period ending in October 2024 amounted to 3.7 percent, down by 0.3 p.p. when compared to the figure seen in September 2024. The Statistics Office noted that the average annual HICP inflation rate is an important indicator of price stability in a country. Its value is among the four Maastricht criteria that EU-member states must meet before adopting the euro. am/df