Estonia: Inflation moderates in February
In February, consumer prices rose 0.9% compared to the previous month, a notable acceleration from January’s 0.4% month-on-month increase and the highest rate in the last 12 months. According to data released by Statistics Estonia, the increase in prices was broad-based. Particularly strong growth was recorded in the prices of housing, alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and clothing and footwear, which more than offset a marginal drop in the prices of communications and education.
Meanwhile, inflation moderated from January’s 3.5% to 3.1% in February, the lowest print since June 2017. In turn, annual average inflation fell marginally to 3.4% in February, from the 3.5% observed in the previous month.
HICP inflation decelerated from 3.6% in January to 3.2%, marking the lowest reading since June 2017. Meanwhile, annual average HICP inflation remained unchanged in February from the previous month’s 3.7%.