Estonia's inflation rose 3.7 percent on year to May

The consumer price index (CPI) in Estonia rose by 3.7 percent on year to May 2026, Statistics Estonia reported.

Between April and May 2026 meanwhile, the CPI rose by 0.4 percent, the agency said.

Goods were 3.1 percent costlier and services 4.6 percent more expensive in May this year than in the same month in 2025.

Compared with May 2025, the rise in the CPI was influenced the most by the 10.4 percent rise in transport costs and a 5.4 percent rise in housing-related costs.

"Prices in transport were mainly driven up by petrol and diesel fuel prices which rose by 14.3 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively. The increase in housing costs was primarily due to 9.4 percent more expensive electricity and the 19.5 percent increase in the cost of natural gas. The index rise was slowed down by the prices of clothing and footwear which fell by 3.9 percent in May year on year," said Mark Herman Ilumets, CPI analyst at Statistics Estonia.

Statistics Estonia reported that in May the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 0.9 percent compared with May 2025. "Prices were up by 4.8 percent for alcoholic beverages and by 16.1 percent for tobacco, which can partly be explained by increased excise duty rates, whereas tobacco excise duty has been raised twice over the last year," Ilumets noted.

Compared with May 2025, prices rose 3.8 percent for fresh or frozen meat, 4.5 percent for ready-made food, 8.9 percent for fresh fruit-bearing vegetables, and 11.3 percent for eggs, Statistics Estonia reported. Prices of leafy and stem vegetables fell 24.4 percent. Butter, whose price in Estonia has now been going down for seven straight months, was 25.6 percent cheaper than it was a year earlier.

Compared with April 2026, May's CPI was driven up by higher prices for natural gas (which rose by 23.9 percent), holiday trips (up by 18.6 percent), international flights (12.8 percent higher), hotel accommodation (12 percent), electricity (2.1 percent), and gasoline (1.8 percent), while diesel prices, which were 8.4 percent cheaper in May than in April, exerted the opposite effect.

Among food products, fruit and nut prices rose 2.6 percent. By group this was a 14.7 percent rise for citrus fruits, while other groups saw a fall: The price of fresh berries fell by 15.2 percent, vegetable prices fell 7.8 percent, fresh or frozen fish by 5.4 percent, and chocolate by 2.4 percent.

More detailed information from Statistics Estonia can be found here, here and here.

Bigbank Chief Economist: First signs of effects of crisis in the Middle East have now reached Estonia

According