Czech inflation up 4.9 percent in September, highest annual growth since 2008

Consumer prices grew at an unusually high rate for the third month in a row, the Czech Statistics Agency reported on Monday. September saw inflation grow, year-on-year, by 4.9 percent, also exceeding the previous month of August by 0.8 percent. A higher year-on-year rate of inflation was last registered in 2008.

September inflation was about 1.7 percentage points higher than forecast by the Czech National Bank. The main reason is the development of core inflation or faster growth of food prices. The rise in prices was most affected by increased cost of housing and transport, according to the Czech Statistics Agency. Analysts say that they expected inflation to grow, but at a slower rate.