Prices increased 1.1 per cent in March

The year-on-year change in consumer prices calculated by Statistics Finland was 1.1 per cent in March. In February, inflation stood at 1.3 per cent. The slight decline in inflation was caused by lower prices of vegetables, for example.

According to the figures published by Statistics Finland, consumer prices were raised most in March 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, televisions, detached houses and children’s day care fees. From February to March, the month-on-month change of consumer prices was 0.1 per cent, which was caused by higher prices of petrol, for example.

Each mid-month, Statistics Finland's 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 centralized collection.

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 1.4 per cent in March. In February it was 1.5 per cent. The corresponding figure for Finland was 1.2 per cent in March.

The year-on-year change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 1.2 per cent in March and that in the Index at Constant Taxes measuring market inflation at 0.9 per cent. Over twelve months, the combined raising impact on consumer prices from changes in commodity tax rates was thus 0.3 percentage points.

The month-on-month change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices was 0.1 per cent and that in the Index at Constant Taxes 0.1 per cent in March.