Financial News: Finland Inflation Eases To 8.4%

Finland Inflation Eases To 8.4%

(RTTNews) - Finland's consumer price inflation slowed at the start of the year amid a slowdown in prices in a broad number of categories, especially in electricity costs, preliminary data from Statistics Finland showed on Monday.

The consumer price index climbed 8.4 percent year-over-year in January, slower than December's stable rate of growth of 9.1 percent.

The overall inflation in January was mainly driven by increases in the prices of electricity, average interest rates on housing loans and consumer credits, as well as rises in the prices of diesel from one year ago, the agency said. 

The easing trend was attributed mostly to the reduction in the prices of real estate and non-refundable prescription medicines.

Among the major components, prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages had the largest impact on inflation, surging by 15.3 percent, followed by utilities with an 11.76 percent spike. 

Compared to the previous month, consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in January, reversing a 0.1 percent fall in the prior month, which was the first decrease since December 2021.

The EU measure of the harmonized index, or HICP, rose 7.9 percent annually in January, slower than the 8.8 percent gain in the prior month.

Month-on-month, the HICP increased 0.5 percent from December, when it fell by 0.4 percent.

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