OFFICIAL: Price hikes are the highest in 21 years
The rise in prices over the past twelve months has been the largest increase in almost 21 years, it has emerged.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 5.6% in the year to February 2022 up from an annual increase of 5.0% in the year to January 2022
This is the largest annual increase in the CPI in almost 21 years when annual inflation also stood at 5.6% in April 2001
The sectors with the largest increases in the year to February were Transport (+15.4%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+12.7%) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+7.8%)
Education (-0.8%) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-0.6%) were the only divisions to show a decrease when compared with February 2021
Consumer prices rose by 0.9% in the month between January 2022 and February 2022
The divisions with the largest increases in the month were Clothing & Footwear (+6.6%) and Transport (+2.3%) while the largest decrease in the month was seen in Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (-1.2%)
Commenting on annual changes shown in the release, Colin Cotter, Statistician, said: “The latest publication for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that prices for consumer goods and services in February 2022 increased by 5.6% on average compared to February 2021. This follows an increase of 5.0% in the year to January 2022. Prices have been rising on an annual basis since April 2021, with annual inflation recorded at 5% or more each month since October. The annual increase in the CPI to February 2022 is the largest observed since annual inflation also stood at 5.6% in April 2001.
Commenting further Colin Cotter, added: “The National Average Prices table for selected CPI goods and services for January 2022 is also available today from the CSO and shows that diesel at €1.60 per litre and petrol at €1.70 per litre were up by 38.9 cent per litre (+32.0%) and 38.8 cent per litre (+29.5%) respectively between January 2021 and January 2022.
Looking at some staple items, the national average price for bread (large (800g) white sliced pan) was up 12.1 cent in the year to January 2022, while the same size brown sliced pan is up 17.3 cent in the year. Bananas per kg increased by 10.2 cent in the year while the average price for 2.5kg of Potatoes decreased by 22.9 cent. Spaghetti per 500g was up 9.9 cent in the year.
The national average price of a take home 50cl can of lager at €2.17 was up 29.7 cent on average from January 2021 while a 50cl can of stout at €2.35 was up 10.1 cent.
In January 2022, the national average price of a pint of stout in licensed premises was €4.95 while a pint of lager was €5.33. As licensed premises were closed for the CPI collection period in January 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, annual comparisons for the price of a pint are unavailable.”