"We anticipated a more moderate increase in clothing and footwear prices in April following a sharp rise in prices in this group in March," Vilija Tauraitė told BNS.
Footwear prices rose by 4.3 percent in April compared with March and clothing prices were up by 3.9 percent due to the launch of new spring-summer season collections, Statistics Lithuania said.
Tauraitė said that with the summer season approaching, more inflation-reducing factors should emerge.
"May could be a prelude to a period of a lower inflationary pressure. We see stable oil prices and the season of rising clothing and footwear prices should be over. We don't see strong pro-inflationary factors," she said.
Lithuania's monthly inflation rate in April reached 0.6 percent, marking the fourth successive month of rising consumer prices, data from the country's statistics office showed on Wednesday.
Statistics Lithuania and SEB Bankas had forecast that the monthly inflation rate in April would be 0.3 percent.
The 12-month inflation rate last month was 3.2 percent and the average annual inflation rate was 4.1 percent.
2012-05-09 13:59
Expensive clothing pushes inflation in Lithuania above forecasts
Lithuania's monthly inflation outpaced forecasts in April, pushed up by rising clothing and fuel prices, but is likely to ease in the coming months, SEB Bankas' chief analyst said on Wednesday.
Clothing prices were up by 3.9 percent due to the launch of new spring-summer season collections. / Algirdo Venskaus nuotr.
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