The EU-harmonised inflation rate in Slovakia dropped to 3.5 percent in December 2008, the third consequtive monthly decrease, the Slovak Statistics Office reported on January 15. These figures confirm the same trend in inflation when calculated according to national methodology, the TASR wrote. That rate was 4.4 percent y-o-y in December, significantly lower than the 4.9 percent recorded in November.
According to the EU-harmonised methodology, alcohol and tobacco prices rose most rapidly in December by 10 percent y-o-y. Prices in health care increased by 8.9 percent, those in hotels, cafes and restaurants by 7.2 percent and those of services connected to housing by 6.8 percent. Compared to December 2007, prices for transport fell by 2.9 percent and prices for postal and telecommunication services fell by 0.8 percent. TASR
