Comparative price level of food, beverages and tobacco in Europe 2006
The results of a price comparison survey on food, beverages and tobacco, conducted by Eurostat, have been released and can be found at Statistics Iceland website.

In the participating countries the relative price level was highest in Iceland, 61% higher than on average in the 25 EU-member states. In Norway the relative price level was 56% higher, in Denmark 39% higher and in Sweden and Finland approximately 20% higher.

37 countries participated in the survey; the 25 EU Member States, Bulgaria, Romania which joined the EU in January 2007; the 3 EFTA-countries, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland; the candidate countries, Croatia, FYROM (The former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia) and Turkey and the 4 Western Balkan countries, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

The time reference of the survey has large effect on the price level for a country like Iceland as the exchange rate of the krona fluctuates considerably. The price level and the exchange rate in the survey are year 2006 averages.

Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages have declined 2.7% from the 2006 average to May 2007, mainly owing to lowering of the VAT on the 1 March and at the same time the krona has appreciated 3.2%. Taking that into account and the price- and exchange developments in other countries , the relative price level for Iceland was some points lower than in the 2006 survey , i.e. 57% higher than the EU-25 average.

Statistics