Doctors, hairdressers and pubs raised prices

Doctors' fees, hairdressing charges and the price of beer in licensed premises were among a range of goods and services identified in the Forfás report as having displayed "unusual price increases" during the euro changeover period.

The report identified such increases in 10 of the 12 categories which made up the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

These high-inflation categories included health, transport, pubs and restaurants and housing.

At aggregate level, the report said, consumer price inflation during the changeover "appeared normal in the context of what had been happening in the preceding months, for the same period in 2000/2001 and indeed for the period since late 1999 when rates of inflation started to rise".

However, it said a closer look at inflation levels between September 2001 and March 2002 revealed rates of price increases in certain categories which were unusual in the context of preceding years.Some prices rose by up to 8 per cent during the seven-month changeover period.

A second measure of inflation, which compared average prices in January-March to average prices in the 12 months up to March, "confirmed the presence of what appeared to be some unusual pricing behaviour", it said.

Among the areas highlighted as having seen such unusual price increases were cinema and "cultural" admittances, taxi fares, furniture removal services, pharmaceutical products, catering services and package holidays.

Under the heading "pubs and restaurants", the report cited unusual price increases in beer, spirits, wine, soft drinks and bottled water at licensed premises, and lunch and dinner meals at restaurants.

Flour and cakes were singled out under the "food and non-alcoholic beverages" category, while wine was the only item identified under "off-licence alcohol and tobacco".

Other high-inflation services listed included private education and training, and repair of household appliances.

The two CPI categories under which no price increases were identified were clothing and footwear, and communications.

The report noted co-existing with unusually large price increases were unusually small price increases, particularly in the food and non-alcoholic beverages category.

"This suggests that the various voluntary codes to which all of the major food retailers subscribed, were effective in ensuring fair play and would appear to have acted to suppress price increases in the early months of this year."

Under the health category, the report found doctors' fees had increased at the highest rate, rising by 7.6 per cent during the changeover period. This compared to inflation rates of 7.1 per cent and 4.7 per cent for opticians' and dentists' fees respectively.

Soft drinks and water topped the inflation chart in pubs and bars with prices rising by an estimated 6.7 per cent in the changeover period. This compared to an increase of 3.7 per cent in the corresponding seven month period in 2000/2001, and just 1 per cent in 1998/1999.

The price of wine in bars was estimated to have increased by 6.2 per cent in the changeover period, spirits by 6 per cent and beer by 5.1 per cent. Other unusual inflation rates in the changeover period were hairdressing (4.2 per cent), cultural admittances (7 per cent), and insurance (8.4 per cent).

In a cross-country analysis of inflation rates for January-February, it found Ireland experienced inflation in excess of every other eurozone country with the exception of the Netherlands, which shared an inflation rate of 1.5 per cent with Ireland and Greece.