Inflation in Estonia reduces to less than 4% in March

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Andrei Chertkov

According to data released by Statistics Estonia, in March, the Consumer Price Index (which is the key indicator of inflation) increased by 3.9 per cent compared with March 2023. Goods were 1.9 per cent and services 7.1 per cent more expensive than in March last year.

The last time that the Consumer Price Index was smaller than 3.9 per cent was back in June 2021, when it was 3.8 per cent.

“Compared with March 2023, the Consumer Price Index was affected the most by price changes related to housing, health, and communication services, which together contributed to over 40 per cent of the total rise,” said Viktoria Trasanov, the team lead of consumer price statistics at Statistics Estonia.

“Price changes related to food and non-alcoholic beverages were not in the top three, mainly due to the 25.9 per cent lower prices of fresh vegetables,” added Trasanov.

Among food products, big decreases compared with March last year were also registered in the prices of sugar (-15.1 per cent), flour mixes (-13.0 per cent), and fresh fish (-12.2 per cent). On the other hand, olive oil was 29.1 per cent, juices and syrups 24.0 per cent, and canned milk 23.4 per cent more expensive.

Compared with February 2024, the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.4 per cent. It was influenced the most by more expensive mobile communication services, the end of the winter sales on clothing and footwear and higher petrol prices.

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