The year-on-year change in consumer prices calculated by Statistics Finland was 1.3 per cent in February. In January, inflation stood at 1.1 per cent.
Consumer prices were raised most in February by increases in the prices of electricity, capital repair on detached house, cigarettes, bank charges and rents from one year ago.
The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of mobile phones, long-distance passenger transport by coach, televisions and second-hand passenger cars. From January to February, the month-on-month change of consumer prices was 0.5 per cent, which was caused by lower prices of international flights, for example.
The figures have been published by Statistics Finland. Each mid-month, its interviewers collect altogether around 50,000 prices on nearly 470 commodities from approximately 2,700 outlets for the Consumer Price Index. In addition, some 1,000 items of price data are gathered by centralised collection.
Higher inflation in the euro area
According to the preliminary data on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, the rate of inflation in the euro area was 1.5 per cent in February. In January it was 1.4 per cent. The corresponding figure for Finland was 1.3 per cent in February.
The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices does not include owner-occupancy, games of chance, interests on consumption and other credits, fire insurance on owner-occupied dwellings, the vehicle tax or fishing and hunting fees. The consumption items included in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, as well as the rules governing its compilation, have been defined in EU regulations.
The year-on-year change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 1.3 per cent in February and that in the Index at Constant Taxes measuring market inflation at 1.1 per cent.
Over twelve months, the combined raising impact on consumer prices from changes in commodity tax rates was thus 0.2 percentage points. The month-on-month change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices was 0.6 per cent and that in the Index at Constant Taxes 0.6 per cent in February.
