Cyprus harmonised inflation eases to 2.5% in April

The harmonised consumer price inflation rate (HICP) measured according to EU-compatible criteria eased to 2.5% year on year in April, compared with 2.6% in March and 2.3% in February, according to the latest data from the Statistical Service CYSTAT.

On a year-on-year basis, the fastest rising category was that of housing, water, electricity and gas (influenced by high oil prices), which rose by 12.4% compared with April 2004.

Food prices have also risen quite fast, by 6.4% year on year in April.

Compared with the previous month, the HICP index rose by 1.02%, compared with 1.18% in March and a fall of 0.09% in February.

In the period January-April 2006 the HICP recorded an increase of 2.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2005.

The 12-month average rate of change (the one used to see if Cyprus has met the Maastricht inflation criterion) was 2.0% for the period May 2005-April 2006 compared to the index of May 2004-April 2005.

As from January 2006, the HICP has been calculated with the new base year 2005=100. FM