Year-on-year, prices rose for: transport (3.8 percent from 3.6 percent in November); housing and utilities (1.3 percent, the same as in November); food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.3 percent from 2.4 percent); miscellaneous goods and services (1.1 percent from 1.2 percent); restaurants and hotels (3 percent from 3.8 percent); recreation and culture (0.1 percent from 0.2 percent); and health (1 percent from 0.8 percent). Meanwhile, downward pressure came from: clothing and footwear (-3.4 percent from -3.6 percent); and furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house (-0.3 percent from -0.4 percent).
Annual core inflation rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food products components, edged up to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices were unchanged, after a 0.3 percent drop in November. An increase in prices of transport (1.6 percent) and housing and utilities (0.2 percent) was offset by a decline in prices of restaurants and hotels (-0.9 percent) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.1 percent).
Considering 2017 as a whole, the CPI advanced 1.4 percent in 2017, compared to 0.6 percent in the previous year.
The harmonized consumer price index increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year and fell by 0.2 percent from the previous month. The index rose 1.6 percent in 2017, compared to 0.6 percent in 2016.