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Consumer Price Index July 2023

Consumer prices rose by 5.8% over the 12 months to July 2023

Online ISSN: 2009-5767
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 5.8% between July 2022 and July 2023, down from an annual increase of 6.1% in the 12 months to June 2023.

  • This is the twenty second straight month where the annual increase in the CPI has been at least 5.0%.

  • The CPI excluding energy and unprocessed food increased by 6.6% in the 12 months to July 2023.

  • The divisions with the largest increases in the 12 months to July 2023 were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+16.5%) and Recreation & Culture (+13.9%).

  • Education (-6.3%) and Transport (-4.5%) were the only divisions to show a decrease when compared with July 2022.

  • Consumer prices rose by 0.2% in the month between June 2023 and July 2023.

  • The divisions with the largest growth in the month were Recreation & Culture (+3.4%) and Transport (+1.4%).

  • The divisions with the largest declines in the month were Clothing & Footwear (-7.8%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-0.3%).

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 August 2023) published the Consumer Price Index (CPI) July 2023.

Commenting on annual changes shown in the release, Anthony Dawson, Statistician in the Prices Division, said: “The latest publication for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that prices for consumer goods and services in July 2023 increased by 5.8% on average when compared with July 2022. This was down from 6.1% in the 12 months to June 2023. Prices have been rising on an annual basis since April 2021, with annual inflation of 5.0% or more recorded in each month since October 2021.

Annual Changes

The most significant rises in the year were seen in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels which was up 16.5% and Recreation & Culture, which rose by 13.9%. Increased electricity (+31.8%) and gas (+45.6%) costs, along with higher mortgage interest repayments (+49.5%) are reflected in the yearly growth of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels. The annual change in Recreation & Culture costs reflects a rise in prices in package holidays (+64.4%) and pets & related products and services (+13.0%) compared with July 2022.

Education (-6.3%) and Transport (-4.5%) were the only divisions to show a decrease when compared with July 2022.

Monthly Changes

Consumer prices in July rose by 0.2% in the month. During July 2022, prices grew by 0.4% in the month. The most significant monthly price changes were increases in Recreation & Culture (+3.4%) and Transport (+1.4%). Recreation & Culture rose mainly due to higher prices for package holidays.

Clothing & Footwear (-7.8%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-0.3%) were the divisions to show the largest decreases when compared with June 2023.

It should be noted that these figures relate to the CPI. The flash estimate published on 28 July 2023 related to the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP)."

National Average Prices

The National Average Prices for selected goods and services for July are also published today. The National Average Prices are compiled together with the CPI. Commenting on the National Average Prices, Anthony Dawson said: “The National Average Price of a number of items rose in July 2023. There were price increases for an 800g loaf of white sliced pan (+5c), an 800g loaf of brown sliced pan (+6c), two litres of full fat milk (+15c), and a pound of butter (+24c) when compared with July 2022.” The comprehensive list of items included in the National Average Prices and their monthly prices are available at: https://data.cso.ie/table/CPM12.

Soundbyte

This is an audio file with a 22-second quote from CSO statistician with the Prices Division, Anthony Dawson, about the July 2023 Consumer Price Index release.
Media outlets have permission to use the clip as long as they credit the CSO.

Headline Table and Graph

Figure 1 shows the development of the CPI and HICP over recent months. It also shows the recent divergence of the CPI and HICP. This divergence is primarily due to the fact that the CPI includes mortgage interest whereas the HICP does not include mortgage interest.

CPI and HICP
 CPI HICP
 % monthly change % annual change % monthly change % annual change
Mar 20231.1 7.7 0.9 7.0
Apr 20230.5 7.2 0.3 6.3
May 20230.3 6.6 0.3 5.4
Jun 20230.8 6.1 0.8 4.8
Jul 20230.2 5.8 0.2 4.6
X-axis labelCPIHICP
Jul 20229.19.6
Aug 20228.79
Sep 20228.28.6
Oct 20229.29.4
Nov 20228.99
Dec 20228.28.2
Jan 20237.87.5
Feb 20238.58.1
Mar 20237.77
Apr 20237.26.3
May 20236.65.4
Jun 20236.14.8
Jul 20235.84.6

Annual and Monthly Price Changes

Prices on average, as measured by the CPI, were 5.8% higher in July 2023 compared with July 2022.

The most notable changes in the year were increases in Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+16.5%), Recreation & Culture (+13.9%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+8.8%) and Restaurants & Hotels (+7.3%). There were decreases in Education (-6.3%) and Transport (-4.5%).

Consumer Prices in July, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.2% in the month. During July of last year, prices rose by 0.4% in the month. The most significant monthly price changes were increases in Recreation & Culture (+3.4%) and Transport (+1.4%). There were decreases in Clothing & Footwear (-7.8%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-0.3%).

Table 1 - Consumer Price Index (All Items)

Table 2 - Consumer Price COICOP Division Indices - July 2023

Contributions to the Overall CPI

Annual Change

Table 3 shows the contribution of each 2-digit COICOP1 division to the overall change in the CPI. A detailed breakdown of the individual components of each of the 12 COICOP divisions is presented in Tables 4 to 15.

The divisions which caused the largest upward percentage point (pp) contributions to the CPI in the year were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+2.86 pp), Restaurants & Hotels (+1.17 pp), Recreation & Culture (+0.97 pp) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+0.96 pp).

The divisions which caused downward percentage point contributions to the CPI in the year were Transport (-0.65 pp) and Education (-0.10 pp).

The main factors contributing to the annual change were as follows:

  • Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels rose mainly due to an increase in the cost of mortgage interest repayments, rents, electricity, gas and solid fuels. This increase was partially offset by a reduction in prices for liquid fuels (home heating oil).
  • Restaurants & Hotels increased primarily due to higher prices for alcoholic drinks and food consumed in licensed premises, restaurants, cafes etc. and an increase in the cost of hotel accommodation.
  • Recreation & Culture increased mainly due to higher prices for package holidays, participation in recreational & sporting services and products for pets.
  • Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages rose due to higher prices across a range of products such as meat, vegetables, bread & cereals and milk, cheese & eggs.
  • Transport fell primarily due to lower prices for diesel, petrol, services in respect of personal transport equipment and passenger transport by bus & coach. This decrease was partially offset by higher prices for airfares and motor cars.
  • Education decreased mainly due to a reduction in costs associated with participating in third level education.

1Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose Adapted to the Needs of Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (2000).

Figure 2: Contribution of CPI COICOP Divisions to the Overall CPI Annual Percentage Change - July 2023
Monthly Change

The divisions which caused the largest upward percentage point contributions to the CPI in the month were Recreation & Culture (+0.25 pp) and Transport (+0.18 pp). The divisions which caused the largest downward percentage point contributions to the CPI in the month were Clothing & Footwear (-0.39 pp) and Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-0.02 pp).

The main factors contributing to the monthly change were as follows:

  • Recreation & Culture increased mainly due to higher prices for package holidays.
  • Transport rose primarily due to an increase in prices for airfares, diesel and petrol.
  • Clothing & Footwear decreased due to sales.
  • Miscellaneous Goods & Services decreased primarily due to a reduction in prices for jewellery.
Table 3 - Contributions to the change in the All Items CPI - July 2023

CPI sub-indices

Tables 4 to 15 detail all COICOP1 sub-indices of the CPI.

Table 2 and table 17 detail selected consumer price index sub-indices. The sub index for Services rose by 10.0% in the year to July, while Goods increased by 0.6%. Services, excluding mortgage interest repayments, increased by 8.1% in the year since July 2022.

The CPI excluding tobacco increased by 0.3% in the month of July and rose by 5.9% in the year. The CPI excluding mortgage interest rose by 0.1% in the month and increased by 4.7% in the year.

1Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose Adapted to the Needs of Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (2000).

Table 4 - COICOP Division 01 Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages - July 2023

Table 5 - COICOP Division 02 Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco - July 2023

Table 6 - COICOP Division 03 Clothing and Footwear - July 2023

Table 7 - COICOP Division 04 Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels - July 2023

Table 8 - COICOP Division 05 Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance - July 2023

Table 9 - COICOP Division 06 Health - July 2023

Table 10 - COICOP Division 07 Transport - July 2023

Table 11 - COICOP Division 08 Communications - July 2023

Table 12 - COICOP Division 09 Recreation and Culture - July 2023

Table 13 - COICOP Division 10 Education - July 2023

Table 14 - COICOP Division 11 Restaurants and Hotels - July 2023

Table 15 - COICOP Division 12 Miscellaneous Goods and Services - July 2023

Table 16 - Consumer Price Index Goods and Services by COICOP Division - July 2023

Table 17 - Consumer Price Index Subindices - July 2023

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices

Prices on average, as measured by the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), increased by 4.6% compared with July 2022.

Table 19 details the COICOP sub-indices for the HICP. The most notable changes in the year were increases in Recreation & Culture (+14.1%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+10.3%), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+8.8%) and Restaurants & Hotels (+7.3%). There were decreases in Education (-6.3%), Transport (-4.1%), Miscellaneous Goods & Services (-0.6%) and Health (-0.6%).

The HICP increased by 0.2% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.4% recorded in July of last year.

The most significant monthly price changes were increases in Recreation & Culture (+3.4%) and Transport (+1.3%). There were decreases in Clothing & Footwear (-7.9%) and Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (-0.5%).

Table 18 - EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) - Ireland

Table 19 - EU Harmonised Consumer Price COICOP Division Indices - July 2023 Ireland

National Average Price

National Average Prices for selected goods and services for July 2023 are detailed in Table 20.

Looking at the National Average Prices of some staple items:

  • The national average price for bread (large (800g) white sliced pan) was up 5 cents in the year to July 2023, while the same size brown sliced pan was up 6 cents in the year.
  • Spaghetti per 500g increased by 18 cents in the year while the average price for 2.5kg of potatoes was up 5 cents.
  • Full fat milk per 2 litres increased by 15 cents in the year while the average price of Irish cheddar per kg rose by 41 cents and butter per lb rose by 24 cents.
  • The national average price of a take-home 50cl can of lager at €2.32 was up 17 cents on average from July 2022 while a take-home 50cl can of cider at €2.58 was up 13 cents.
  • In July 2023, the national average price of a pint of stout in licensed premises was €5.52, up 38 cents in the year, while a pint of lager was €5.98, up 42 cents compared with July 2022.

National Average Price

National Average Prices for selected goods and services for July 2023 are detailed below

These prices are compared to the same product and service in July 2022. A full list of National Average Prices is detailed in Table 20.
Increase
5c
now €1.65
White Sliced Pan (800g)
Increase
18c
now €1.46
Spaghetti (500g)
Increase
5c
now €3.43
Bag of Potatoes (2.5kg)
Increase
15c
now €2.20
Milk - Full Fat (2L)
Increase
41c
now €10.39
Irish Cheddar Cheese (kg)
Increase
24c
now €3.76
Butter (lb/454g)
Table 20 - National Average Prices

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