How did high inflation come about? (June 2022)

Price growth accelerated during the pandemic both in Slovakia and abroad. At first, inflation was mainly fuelled by supply-side factors connected to the shift of demand from services to goods, which led to bottlenecks in global supply chains. While price growth was expected to ease in 2022, the war in Ukraine postpones the return to pre-crisis levels of inflation. The invasion has led to further price increases, predominantly through higher energy prices, but also through prolonging the ongoing supply bottlenecks. Significant rises in inflation threaten low-income households and those parts of the population which rely on social benefits, as these are adjusted for inflation with a delay.