Ireland : Clothing & footwear price fall in Dec Inflation

Consumer Prices in December, as measured by the CPI, increased by 0.1% in the month. This compares to an increase of 0.3% in December of last year. The annual rate of inflation fell to 4.7%, down from 5.0% in November 2007.
The EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) rose by 0.1% in the month, compared to an increase of 0.4% in December 2006. The annual rate of inflation, as measured by the HICP, fell from 3.5% in November to 3.2% in December.
The most notable changes in the year were increases in Gas & Other Fuels (+15.1%), Education (+6.0%) and Transport (+5.1%). There were decreases in Clothing & Footwear (-6.2%) and Furnishings.
The annual rate of inflation for Services was 6.5% in December, while Goods increased by 2.7% in the year. The most significant monthly price changes were increases in Gas & Other Fuels (+0.7%) and a decrease in Clothing & Footwear (-3.4%).
The main factors contributing to the monthly change were as follows:
• Clothing & Footwear fell with lower prices for both clothing and footwear.
The CPI excluding tobacco index for December remained unchanged in the month and was up 4.7% in the year. The CPI excluding energy products index was up 0.1% since November and increased by 4.3% in the year. The CPI excluding mortgage interest increased by 0.1% in the month and rose by 3.1% in the year.