Consumer and industrial prices in 2020 - the year of the coronavirus

The current coronavirus crisis has influenced everyone's lives, as government restrictions and closures have been in place for a long time, affecting almost the whole economy. People are spending more time at home and changing their consumer habits. The lower consumption is also naturally affecting industrial producers' pricing decisions. On the other hand, the negative demand shock induced by the pandemic, which is fostering lower prices, is being dampened by fiscal stimuli introduced by governments and central banks to boost their economies. However, the end effect is always unclear in advance. This article therefore examines the indices used most often to monitor prices and describes the differences observed in individual areas during the coronavirus crisis so far. On a general level, we demonstrate that the industrial producer price index and the consumer price index have both declined this year. Looked at in more detail, however, this finding does not apply to all economic sectors.