Stats: Y-o-Y Inflation at 3.1 percent in August 2026

Bratislava, 15 September (TASR) - The trend in consumer prices for goods and services varied across different sectors in August 2026; however, on a month-on-month basis, the increases and decreases offset one another, leaving the figure at zero, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday, adding that year-on-year inflation stood at 3.1 percent, the lowest figure since the start of 2025. Year-on-year, prices were higher in six out of 13 household expenditure groups, ranging from a 0.1-percent increase in housing and energies up to 1.3 percent in transportation. Prices dropped month-on-month in five sectors, ranging from a 0.8-percent decrease in clothing and footwear to 0.4 percent in the health-care sector. Compared with July, prices for education, as well as for insurance and financial services, remained unchanged. The current trend in month-on-month inflation in August was adversely affected by rising prices in transportation, where prices rose by 1.3 percent. Once again, this was mainly due to a 2.6-percent increase in fuel prices. Conversely, a fall in prices in the food and non-alcoholic beverages sector had a positive impact for the third consecutive month and for the sixth time this year. Inflation reached 3.1 percent year-on-year in August, making it the lowest figure in the last 20 months. Compared with August 2025, prices were higher in 12 out of a total of 13 sectors, ranging from 0.4 percent in clothing and footwear to 7.4 percent in housing and energies. Prices were lower than a year ago in only one sector - food and non-alcoholic beverages - by 2.5 percent. In the first eight months of 2026, meanwhile, consumer prices went up by 3.6 percent y-o-y. am