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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

29 April 2022

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices Flash Estimate April 2022

Prices in Ireland estimated to have risen by 7.3% in the year to April 2022
  • The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for Ireland is estimated to have increased by 7.3% in the year to April 2022; this compares to an annual increase of 7.5% in the Eurozone
  • This compares with HICP inflation of 6.9% in Ireland in the year to March 2022 and an annual increase of 7.4% in the HICP for the Eurozone in the same period
  • Annual estimates of inflation for five of the 19 Eurozone countries published today were lower than the estimate of 7.3% for Ireland while 13 countries had a higher rate
  • Estonia had the highest estimated rate of annual inflation in April 2022 at 19.0% while Malta had the lowest at 4.9%
  • Looking at the components of the flash HICP for Ireland in April 2022, energy is estimated to be down by 1.7% in the month and up by 39.1% since April 2021

Eurostat has today (29 April 2022) published flash estimates of inflation from the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the Eurozone for April 2022, including estimates for Ireland which have been compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Commenting on the data published today, Colin Cotter, Statistician, said: “The latest flash estimate of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), compiled by the CSO, indicates that prices for consumer goods and services in Ireland are estimated to have increased by 7.3% in the past year. The corresponding rate for the Eurozone published by Eurostat today was 7.5%. These flash estimates are subject to revision when the final HICP results are published next month (See Editor’s Note below).

Five of the 19 Eurozone countries had a lower annual increase than the estimate of 7.3% for Ireland while 13 countries had higher rates. Estonia had the highest estimated annual inflation at 19.0% while Malta had the lowest at 4.9%.

Looking at the components of the flash HICP in Ireland for April 2022, energy is estimated to be down 1.7% in the month and up 39.1% since April 2021. There was a similar result for the Eurozone overall, with energy prices down by 3.7% in the month and up by 38.0% on an annual basis.” 

Editor's Note:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the official measure of inflation for Ireland and is published monthly by the CSO. The CPI release for April 2022 will be published on 12 May 2022. The HICP is an index of consumer prices that has been harmonised to allow comparisons across Eurozone countries. While the final HICP results for the Eurozone are usually published by Eurostat around the middle of the month following the reference month, flash estimates are issued around the end of each reference month.

This is the link to the April 2022 Eurozone flash HICP estimates published by Eurostat this morning: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/14497757/2-29042022-AP-EN.pdf/664dc8bd-4460-46f6-69ea-04c1763abd28?t=1651154566195

The flash estimates of HICP have been published for some countries within the Eurozone by Eurostat each month since January 2019. Ireland was included in the publication of the country breakdowns of the flash estimates process since November 2019, but this is the first month that the CSO has highlighted the flash estimates of HICP to national users.

The final results of the HICP for Ireland for April 2022 will be published as part of the CPI release at 11am on 12 May 2022 while Eurostat are expected to publish final HICP results for the Eurozone for April 2022 at 10am on 18 May 2022.

Please note that these flash HICP estimates are subject to revision when the final results are published. For 17 of the 29 months since November 2019 when the CSO’s flash estimate has been published by Eurostat, there was no difference between Ireland’s flash estimate and final result of the HICP. There was a difference of 0.1 percentage points for 10 of the months while one month in 2020 had a difference of 0.2 percentage points and another had a difference of 0.3 percentage points.

For further information contact:

Colin Cotter (+353) 21 453 5770

or email cpi@cso.ie

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