The largest weighted positive contribution came from the sector Restaurants, cafes, hotels and other accommodation services, which increased by 24.8 percent in fixed prices compared with January a year ago. The comparison with January 2022 should take into account that new Covid restrictions for restaurants were implemented during that month.

Retail trade, mostly food and beverages accounted for the largest weighted negative contribution to total consumption and decreased by 4.0 percent in fixed prices compared with January a year ago.

To consider

The COVID-19 outbreak started to significantly impact household consumption in April 2020, which should be taken into account when comparing annual development statistics.

Under present circumstances with broad price increases on consumer goods, consumption patterns may change. Consumers may choose cheaper alternatives for goods that have become more expensive (so called substitution). This might lead to an underestimation of household consumption measured in fixed prices. This might mostly be a concern for the sector Retail trade, mostly food and beverages, but can also be a factor within other sectors.

The next statistical news in this series is scheduled for publication on 2023-04-06 at 08:00.