“The decline from 4.6 percent in January to 4.3 percent in February is primarily due to the fact that price pressure on food has eased significantly, and prices in restaurants have not risen quite as much as recently,” said Statistics -Austria General Director Tobias Thomas on Monday.
“Fuel prices, on the other hand, which had fallen noticeably in the previous months compared to the previous year, have remained almost unchanged,” Thomas explained on Monday, according to the announcement. Compared to the previous month of January, the price level rose by 0.7 percent. The Harmonized Inflation Rate (HICP) for Austria, determined for eurozone comparisons, was 4.2 percent in February.
The price level of the micro shopping basket, which reflects daily purchases and mainly contains food, but also daily newspapers or coffee in the coffee house, rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year in February (January: +6.5 percent). The price level of the mini shopping basket, which represents a weekly purchase and includes food and services as well as fuel, rose by 4.9 percent year-on-year (January: +5.0 percent).
The most important driver of inflation: prices in restaurants and hotels
The most important inflation driver was the increase in prices for restaurants and hotels by an average of 8.3 percent, which contributed 1.09 percentage points to the inflation rate. But here too, inflation was somewhat less pronounced than in January at 9.0 percent.
Prices for housing, water and energy rose by an average of 4.2 percent and accounted for 0.85 percentage points of overall inflation. Rents rose by 8.6 percent, slightly less than in January (+9.1 percent). Prices for household energy were 3.7 percent lower in February than a year ago, and district heating was even 12.7 percent lower. Gas, on the other hand, has become more expensive by 11.9 percent.
Prices for leisure and culture were increased by an average of 5.0 percent. Food and non-alcoholic drinks rose in price by 3.7 percent and contributed 0.43 percentage points to inflation. Transport prices rose by an average of 1.2 percent.
This article was updated at 11:05 a.m.
