After the sharp increase in the previous month due to higher electricity prices, inflation in Switzerland picked up again slightly in February. Analysts had expected a decline. Specifically, annual inflation rose from 3.3 percent in January to 3.4 percent in February, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (BFS) on Monday. In December it was only 2.8 percent.
Compared to the previous month, the national consumer price index (CPI) increased by a high 0.7 percent to 105.8 points. Analysts had only expected an increase of 0.3 to 0.4 percent.
According to the BFS, this increase is due to various factors, including higher prices for flights and package tours as well as for the extra-hotel industry. The prices for renting apartments and those for petrol also rose. In contrast, the prices for heating oil, berries and new automobiles fell.
Swiss inflation is therefore still well below the euro zone average. In the euro countries, inflation averaged 8.5 percent in February, and according to a quick estimate by Statistics Austria, it should have been a whopping 11.0 percent.
