Inflation Rate YoY

Swiss Inflation Rate YoY is the % change in the Swiss Consumer Price Index, the CPI, versus the same month 1 year earlier. The CPI, from the Federal Statistical Office, the FSO, tracks prices for a fixed basket, or set goods list, bought by permanently resident households. It covers about 100000 prices in about 8000 outlets, but excludes tourists, cross-border workers, short-term residents and collective households, such as retirement homes. A rise means inflation, or money losing purchasing power, while a fall means deflation, and the index guides wages, central bank decisions and forecasts.

Prices are surveyed in the first 2 weeks of each month, with fuels checked twice, rents quarterly, and holidays priced by purchase month. The release appears at 08:30 Swiss time in the first days after the measured month, except January, which comes mid-February with new yearly weights. Each release shows the index level, monthly and yearly changes, core inflation excluding volatile items, domestic and imported splits, plus HICP, or harmonised European comparison. December adds average yearly inflation and next year dates, January adds new basket weights, and results are never revised but linked without changing past values.

6 divisions dominate the basket, so their price shifts move the headline most.

• Housing and energy, 25.595%: rents including imputed, or estimated owner, rents, dwelling costs, electricity, gas and heating oil.
• Healthcare, 17.379%: medicines, medical, dental and hospital services, plus therapeutic devices, excluding insurance premiums.
• Transport, 10.715%: cars, fuel, public transport and air fares.
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages, 10.307%: everyday food and soft drinks.
• Restaurants and hotels, 9.568%: catering and accommodation.
• Recreation, sport and culture, 7.501%: package holidays, leisure, culture and sports.

In September 2022 the index stood at 104.6 points, down 0.2% on the month but up 3.3% on the year. Core inflation, excluding fresh, seasonal, energy and fuel items, was only 2.0% yearly, with domestic goods up 1.8% and imports up 7.8%. Cheaper fuels, heating oil and hotels drove the monthly fall, partly offset by higher clothing prices from new collections. Average yearly inflation, or 12-month mean change, was 2.8% in 2022, since yearly rates compare against 12 months earlier, not the prior month.

1. Weights: Expenditure shares come from the Household Budget Survey, or spending survey, of about 3300 randomly chosen households, plus energy and tobacco data. Only monetary, or paid, consumption counts, and items need 0.1% of spending, except basic staples.
2. Price update: Weights from 2 years earlier are scaled by each item price change to December, so weights and the base, or 100 reference, align.
3. Basic averaging: Within each cell, or region and shop group, price ratios are combined with a geometric mean, or multiplied then rooted. For example, bread rising from 2.00 to 2.10 and milk flat at 1.50 gives cell index 102.47.
4. Intermediate averaging: Cells are averaged with weighted, or importance-weighted, means across 11 regions then shops to give 1 item index.
5. Chained Lowe index: Items are combined with the Lowe formula, or yearly-weighted Laspeyres type, using December weights, and linked each December without revising past values.
6. Yearly inflation: Yearly inflation is the % change versus the same month 1 year earlier. For example, an index of 104.6 against 101.2 a year earlier gives 3.4% inflation. Average yearly inflation compares the mean of 12 monthly indices with the prior year mean.
7. Quality and seasonality: Replacement items are quality-adjusted so only pure price change enters, and missing seasonal items carry forward at their last price. The headline index has no seasonal adjustment, so yearly rates compare the raw index.