In April, industrial producer prices increased slightly month-on-month for the second consecutive month (0.1%), while the year-on-year decline continued to narrow slightly (-2.9%). The month-on-month growth was driven by a 0.5% increase in prices of consumer goods (mainly durable goods, which rose by 1.6%), while prices of capital goods and raw materials remained unchanged. Energy prices fell by 0.5% month-on-month due to lower prices for coke and petroleum products (-2.7%). Year-on-year, the decline in prices of raw materials (-5.5%) and energy (-9.4%) slowed slightly, while the rise in prices of capital goods (0.7%) and consumer goods (1.2%) accelerated. Industrial producer prices fell by 3.8% year-on-year on the domestic market and by 1.9% on foreign markets. The smaller decline on foreign markets was mainly due to higher prices on non-euro-area markets (2.7%), while the decline in prices in the euro area (-3.6%) was comparable to the decline on the domestic market.

In March, the average gross wage growth (2.7%) was slightly lower in real terms compared to the first two months of the year. With inflation slightly higher, this was mainly due to the high base effect from last year, when the minimum wage saw a larger increase at the beginning of the year compared to this year. In the private sector, the average gross wage in March increased by 3.5% year-on-year in real terms, with the highest growth recorded in administrative and support service activities and manufacturing. Real growth in the public sector was 1.3%. Nominal year-on-year growth in the average gross wage (6.4%) was slightly lower than in the previous months. It increased by 7.2% in the private sector and by 5% in the public sector. In the first three months, it was on average 7.1% higher in nominal terms, which is less than in previous quarters.