Slovenia's annual inflation slowed to 4.9% in November, the lowest rate in two years and two percentage points lower than a month ago, fresh data from the Statistics Office shows.

Prices dropped by 1% on the month before in what is the first month-on-month deflation in more than a year. This was mainly due to lower household electricity bills after the government decided to waive a fee for renewable-sourced electricity from November 2023 until the end of 2024. As a result, electricity prices dropped by 18.8% in a month.

Costlier food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to drive the annual inflation rate; rising by 6.2% they contributed a 1.1 percentage point to inflation.

A further 0.7 points came as a result of a 6.7% increase in prices of goods and services in the group recreation and culture, and a 8.4% hike in prices at restaurants and hotels added 0.6 points.

The inflation rate was kept down by cheaper solid fuels. These fell by as much as 25.4% in a year, dragging inflation down by 0.4 percentage points.

The prices of solid fuels were down month-on-month as well, by 8.7%. Accommodation services were 4.2% cheaper, and prices of diesel and liquid fuels fell by 2.4% and of petrol by 2.2%. Health services and package holidays were also cheaper than a month ago, dropping by 2.1% and 2%, respectively.

Compared to the month before, Slovenians also paid more for fruit (+3.1%), recreational items and equipment, gardens and pets (+2.4%), tobacco (+2.2%) and clothing and footwear (+0.8%).

Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, an EU-wide gauge, annual inflation ran at 4.5% in November, compared to 10.8% a year ago, while consumer prices dropped by 0.8% month-on-month.

According to the first estimate released by Eurostat, the annual rate of inflation in the eurozone slowed by half a point to 2.4% in November. Slovenia reported the fourth highest inflation rate among the nations with the single currency, after Slovakia, Croatia and Austria.

To keep inflation in check, the government lowered excise duties for unleaded petrol and diesel and reduced retail margins for the two fuels.

Starting from 5 December, the excise duties will go down by 3 cents each per litre for unleaded petrol and diesel to 46.051 cents and 39.267 cents, respectively. Margins for regular and diesel sold outside the motorway network are being cut by 3 cents each as well.