Headline inflation declined to 3.0 percent in May, from 3.1 percent in April.  Lower inflation was recorded for several commodity groups, including: food and non-alcoholic beverages (from 1.5 to 1.3 percent); alcoholic beverages and tobacco (from 6.0 to 5.4 percent); clothing and footwear (from 7.6 to 7.5 percent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (from 6.2 to 6.1 percent); transport (from -4.6 to -4.7 percent); restaurants and hotels (from 5.3 to 5.1 percent); and miscellaneous goods and services (from 7.5 to 7.4 percent). However, this was partly offset by rising inflation for: health (from 5.7 to 8.1 percent, mainly due to higher prices for hospital services); communication (0.0 to 0.5 percent, as a result of increased postal tariffs); and recreation and culture (from 6.6 to 6.7 percent). Inflation was unchanged for: furnishing, household equipment and routine maintenance (6.4 percent) and education (6.3 percent).

The trimmed mean measure of core inflation and inflation excluding administered prices fell from 3.6 to 3.5 percent and 4.8 to 4.7 percent, respectively.