PRAGUE, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The average inflation rate in the Czech Republic was 10.7 percent in 2023, down from 15.1 percent in 2022, according to data published Thursday by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).
Last year's average inflation rate was 4.4 percentage points lower than in 2022, when the Czech Republic recorded the second-highest average annual inflation in three decades.
Consumer prices in the country rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year in December 2023, down 0.4 percentage points from November. The CSU attributed the slowdown of year-on-year price growth mainly to the falling prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The Czech National Bank (CNB) said Thursday that inflation continues to decline in line with its forecast. December year-on-year inflation was 0.1 percentage point lower than the CNB's autumn forecast.
"The observed price developments bear out the expectations of the autumn forecast. Following a temporary increase in October, annual inflation slowed in the rest of the year. As early as in January 2024, annual inflation will decline sharply, close to the upper boundary of the tolerance band around the 2 percent target," said the central bank.
In its autumn forecast published in November 2023, the CNB anticipated an average inflation rate of 10.8 percent for 2023, and 2.6 percent in 2024. ■
