Over one month, consumer prices rose by 0.2% in May 2018, after a 0.3% increase the previous month. This price surge is mainly due to the increase in the prices of food products (0.9% after a decrease of 0.1% the previous month), restaurants and hotels (0.4%), miscellaneous goods and services (0.4%), furniture, household and routine cleaning articles (0.4%), and health (0.2%). The rise in the general price level was however slowed down by the fall in the prices of housing, water, gas, electricity and other fuels (-0.9%) and, to a lesser extent, in the prices of clothing and footwear (-0.2%), communications (-0.1%) and leisure and culture (-0.1%).
The rise in food prices is mainly due to the increase in the prices of fruit (4.6%) and vegetables (3.8%) as well as bread and cereals (0.5%). Conversely, the prices of meat (-3.2%), milk, cheese and eggs (-1.9%) and oils and fats (-1.2%) helped to curb the rise in food prices.
