Swiss prices fell by 0.1% in November 2019, the sixth time in 12 months. But not everything is cheaper.
Prices fell in December 2018 (-0.3%), January 2019 (-0.3), July (-0.5), September (-0.1), October (-0.2%) and November 2019 (-0.1). When combined with the low inflation experienced in the other 6 months the 12-month price drop is -0.1%.
Not everything has gone down in price however. Swiss inflation calculations include price movements across a wide basket of goods and services.
The prices of some things have dropped far more than 0.1% over the last 12 months. Likewise, some things have risen in price.
Prices rose or remained steady for clothing and footwear (+3.3%), housing (+0.0%), recreation and culture (+0.0%) and restaurants and hotels (+0.5%). These items make up around 47% of a typical household budget.
Things that have experienced significant 12 month price declines are home energy (-4.7%), healthcare (-0.6%) – this doesn’t include health insurance premiums, transport (-1.2%) – fuel prices fell 6.5%, and food (-1.4%). These four things together make up around 40% of a typical household budget.
The last 12 months have been kind to those on whole plant food diets. Food price drops were greatest for those with a preference for fresh fruit and vegetables (-4.0%) and cereals (-3.9%). Fruiting vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, peppers, pumpkins, aubergines, sweet corn and avocados are 16.6% cheaper than they were 12 months ago.
Lovers of meat and dairy (+0.2%), on the other hand, will not have felt the same price busting effects of deflation.
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JOYPATTINSON says
The drop in food items must surely be due to such supermarkets as Aldi and Lidl whose food range is far cheaper than those of Migros and Coop. Also the constant traffic across the border to such as Carrefour and Casino has a great influence on Swiss supermarkets. People have always been prepared to drive extra miles to save on merchandise, especially food.