Consumer prices fell on an annual basis for the first time in two years in April, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show today.
Prices were down 0.1% on an annual basis and by 0.4% on a monthly basis, with the largest monthly falls seen in categories including clothing, footwear, housing, water, electricity and gas.
On an annual basis, the prices of clothing and footwear fell due to sales, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels prices decreased due to a fall in the price of home heating oil, electricity and gas.
The CSO said that due to Covid-19 restrictions during April, there were "unprecedented" changes in household consumption patterns.
It was estimated that consumers, on average, were unable to buy 25.6% of the goods and services in the consumer price index basket of goods and services, including air transport, package holidays, restaurants, pubs and hotels, creches, hairdressers, health and beauty services, cinema, theatre, museums, libraries and wedding services.
Due to the closure of non-essential retail outlets, household consumption for many other goods and services was also significantly reduced.
The CSO also said that due to the restrictions on movement imposed during the pandemic, it did not send price collectors into retail outlets to collect information in April and as a result, price collection proved significantly more difficult than previous months.
