Producer, consumer prices down

Lithuania's producer prices fell by 3.4 percent during the first five months of this year, driven lower by a 13.4 percent decline in wholesale oil product prices, and consumer prices edged down slightly from month to month, the statistics department announced on June 6.
Over the year from May 2002 to May 2003, the producer price index went down by 5.1 percent, while the drop was 2.9 percent in May compared with April.
Producer prices of refined oil products slumped by 11.5 percent over the year and were down by 12.1 percent on a monthly basis.
Excluding oil products, overall producer prices slid by 3.7 percent in year-on-year terms and registered a 0.7 percent decline month-on-month.
Overall producer prices on the domestic market fell by 3 percent year-on-year, and were down by 1.2 percent in month-on-month terms. Export prices decreased by 7.2 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.
Consumer prices, meanwhile, edged down 0.2 percent in May compared with April, driven lower by falling foodstuff and fuel prices, according to the statistics department.
Consumer prices in Lithuania fell by 0.9 percent over the year from May 2002 to May 2003. In May compared with December, the CPI was down by 0.2 percent.
Prices of consumer goods dipped by 0.2 percent in May versus April, while prices of services were up 0.1 percent over the month.
The statistics department said May's CPI was pushed down by a 2.4 percent drop in transport costs and a 0.5 percent fall in prices for food products and nonalcoholic beverages.
This was partly offset by a 1.2 percent increase in alcohol and tobacco prices, a 0.5 percent rise in utility costs and a 0.7 percent rise in clothing and footwear prices.
In the transport group, diesel fuel prices slumped down by 7.7 percent, gasoline prices fell by 5.1 percent, and automotive liquified gas prices went down 1.7 percent over the month.