Goods were 0.9 percent and services 2.4 percent more expensive than in August last year, the agency said.

The CPI rose by 0.4 percent between July and August, which together with the preceding two months' figures makes for the slowest price rises in over five years, Statistics Estonia added.

Commenting on the results, Lauri Veski, the Consumer Price Statistics Service Manager at Statistics Estonia, said that the year‑on‑year increase in prices has been very modest in the last three months – the last time that prices rose so little came in spring 2021.

"Although housing and transport costs have risen on year to August, the CPI was driven down by the decrease in the prices of food and non‑alcoholic beverages," Veski said.

"Food and non‑alcoholic beverages is the commodity group with the biggest weight in the consumer price index. Prices in this group fell by 2.6 percent year on year, which limited the overall price increase. The 4.6 percent decline in clothing and footwear prices also had a considerable impact on the year‑on‑year change," he added.

Housing costs were influenced by the rise in the prices of refuse collection (which went up by 53.6 percent in a year), wood fuel (a 10 percent rise) and electricity (up 3.7 percent) compared with August last year. Fuels were the main contributors to the increase in transport costs, as petrol was 7.9 percent and diesel fuel 27.9 percent costlier than in August 2025.

Year‑on‑year inflation in August was driven by higher costs for fish (which went up by 4.8 percent), fresh fruit‑bearing vegetables (up by 16 percent) and ready‑made food (up by 3.5 percent), while prices fell for fruits and nuts (down by 15.7 percent), dairy products (down by 4.1 percent) and oils and fats (down by 19.2 percent, with butter down by 28 percent). Compared with July, fuel prices rose (petrol up by 2.3 percent, diesel up by 11.2 percent), electricity cost 3.1 percent more and housing rentals increased 2.7 percent, while natural gas prices fell 6.2 percent from July but remained 18.3 percent higher than a year earlier. Among food products, coffee (down by 3.5 percent), citrus fruits (down by 12 percent) and other fresh fruits (down by 9.6 percent) were cheaper than in July, while bread and bakery products (up by 1 percent) and fresh fruit‑bearing vegetables (up by 4 percent) cost more.

Statistics Estonia compiled the above report on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. More detailed information is available from Statistics Estonia here, here and here.

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