Slovakia experienced a slight rise in its annual inflation rate to 4.4% in July 2025, up from 4.3% in June, marginally surpassing market predictions of 4.2%. This increase was influenced by rising costs in several sectors: food and non-alcoholic beverages increased to 4.4% from 4.2%, alcoholic beverages and tobacco saw a rise to 6.7% from 5.3%, clothing and footwear edged up to 3.6% from 3.5%, and housing and utilities reached 2.7% from 2.6%. Additionally, furnishings, household equipment, and routine maintenance of homes climbed to 3.2% from 3.0%, while miscellaneous goods and services rose to 6.3% from 6.2%. Conversely, costs decreased for health services (dropping to 1.9% from 2.4%), transportation (down to 1.5% from 2.6%), communication (4.3% from 6.1%), and recreation and culture (which slightly decreased to 4.8% from 4.9%). Price levels for education remained steady at 10.0%, as did those for restaurants and hotels at 9.5%. On a month-to-month comparison, consumer prices experienced a slight uptick of 0.3% in July, increasing from 0.2% in the previous month.