KSH department head Borbála Minarik believes that the twelve-month inflation was pushed down by dropping vehicle gas and household energy prices, as the drop in vehicle gas prices alone reduced consumer prices by 0.6 percentage points in January.

The year-on-year figure performed the steepest drop since a government-mandated reduction in household utilities prices turned the twelve-month indices to the negative last spring. Except for July and August, consumer prices have been down every month since April 2014.

Seasonally-adjusted core inflation remained unchanged from December and was up 0.7% from January 2014.