According to the flash estimate by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the Croatian CPI in February 2024 grew by 4.1% YoY and increased by 0.2% MoM.
Last Friday, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics released the latest flash estimate for the Croatian CPI, for the month of February 2024. According to the flash estimate, the Croatian CPI grew by 4.1% YoY and increased by 0.2% at the end of February.
Croatian CPI YoY growth (February 2013 – February 2024, %)
Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, InterCapital Research
Breaking this change down into main components of the index, on a yearly basis, Food, beverages, and tobacco recorded an increase of 5.5%, Services grew by 6.4%, Non-food industrial goods without energy by 2.5%, while prices in Energy increased further by 0.4%.
Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, Energy increased by 1.5%, Services grew 0.5%, while Food, beverages, and tobacco increased by 1.1%, Services grew by 0.7%, while Non-food industrial goods without energy declined by 3.1%, and Energy decreased by 0.6%.
Furthermore, according to Eurostat’s latest release of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), in January 2024 Euro area annual inflation amounted to 2.8%. Meanwhile, Croatia recorded a YoY HICP increase of 4.8%, while on a MoM basis, HICP decreased by 0.3%.
Comparison of HICP change with available European countries (January 2024, YoY, %)
Source: Eurostat, InterCapital Research
Compared to other available European countries, Croatia stands 3th with the highest HICP, right behind Estonia’s 5% and Romanias 7.3%. France, Slovenia and Sweden recorded 3.4% growth, Germany 3.1% and Spain 3.5%. %. In other words, even though there was an improvement in the HICP, the yearly data show us that Croatia still ranks as one of the most affected countries in terms of price growth.
Comparison of HICP change with available European countries (January 2024, MoM, %)
Source: Eurostat, InterCapital Research
Meanwhile, on the MoM basis, around half of the European countries recorded a decrease in the HICP, while the other half noted a MoM increase. Czechia ad Estonia noted the biggest MoM increase of 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively, followed by Romania at a 1.1% increase. The biggest MoM decline was noted by Ireland at 1.4% decrease. Croatia was placed somewhere around the middle of the observed countries with the aforementioned 0.3% decline.
While the trend in the slowdown in inflationary growth is clearly present, this month recorded a slight reverse/pause in the declining inflation growth rate trend. Overall, Croatian CPI reached its highest level in years. Although there is a clear trend of slowdown, elevated inflation even when dropping plays a more significant role due to that high base last year.
