Ljubljana - Slovenia recorded an annual inflation at a 4.9% rate this year, compared to a 1.1% deflation last year, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday, noting that more expensive petroleum products contributed the most to the inflation. The consumer prices in December meanwhile stayed unchanged on a monthly basis.

The prices of goods increased by 6.7% on average this year, while prices of services were up by 1.5%. The prices of non-durable goods rose by 7.2%, of durable goods by 6.5%, and of semi-durable goods by 4.8%.

Contributing the most (81.3 percentage points) to the annual inflation rate in 2021 were the more expensive petroleum products - the price of diesel fuel was up by 34.5% and of petrol by 31.8%.

The prices of food increased on average by 4% to contribute 0.6 of a percentage point to the annual inflation, while half a percentage point was contributed by the higher prices of heating (+70.9%).

Contributing 0.4 of a percentage point each were higher prices of services in restaurants and hotels (+6.1), of clothing and footwear (+5.9) and housing equipment and maintenance (+5.7).

The prices of cars were up by 8% on average to contribute 0.3 of a percentage point to the annual inflation, and the same contribution was made by higher prices in the recreation and culture group (+3.4).

On the other hand, the annual inflation was offset somewhat by cheaper private health insurance services (-12.7%) and telephone and fax services (-3.9%).

Consumer prices did not change on average in December compared to November, while the prices of some products and services increased or decreased markedly, the Statistics Office said.

The prices of food notably increased by 2.1% on average on a monthly basis, while the prices of petroleum products decreased - petrol by 4% and diesel by 3.7%.

Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, an EU gauge, annual inflation hit 5.1% in December, up by 0.1 of a percentage point compared to the previous month.