BRATISLAVA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia's inflation accelerated with 1.4 percent to a four-year high in July.
It's the fastest growth since July 2013, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia analyst Lubomir Korsnak said Monday in response to the latest figures published by the Slovak Statistical Office.
"A reduction in base effect was chiefly behind the July acceleration like the effect of last July's cut in regulated gas prices, as well as continuing growth in food prices and acceleration in demand inflation supported by growing domestic consumption and a strong labour market," explained Korsnak.
Food prices also significantly contributed to the acceleration in year-on-year inflation in July. Oils and fats, milk and milk products, and cheese and eggs reported the highest growth among food commodities in the month.
"Prices of farm commodities indicate that strong growth in prices should persist in the next few months," stated Korsnak, adding that growing domestic consumption was also one of the factors behind the acceleration in inflation.
"Inflation in Slovakia will approach the ECB's inflation target of below 2 percent only slowly and will probably fail to reach it this year. Inflation should remain around 1.5 percent or closely above this level during the remaining months of this year," added Korsnak.
