Inflation rises to minus 0.2% in May

The year-on-year change in consumer prices calculated by Statistics Finland was minus 0.2 per cent in May.

In April, inflation stood at minus 0.3 per cent. The increase in inflation was caused by higher prices of long-distance train journeys and international flights, for example.

Consumer prices rose most in May by increases in the prices of cigarettes, long-distance train journeys and children’s day-care, as well as higher maintenance charges from one year ago.

The rise in consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of petrol, light fuel oil, diesel and hotel rooms. From April to May, the month-on-month change in consumer prices was minus 0.0 per cent.

Core inflation (inflation excluding food and energy) was 0.4 in May. Inflation on food (including non-alcoholic beverages) stood at 2.4 per cent in May and inflation on energy (including fuels, electricity, and petrol) at minus 11.7 per cent.

Each mid-month, Statistics Finland’s interviewers collect altogether 44,000 prices of nearly 470 commodities from about 2,700 outlets to build the Consumer Price Index.

Price data are supplemented with scanner data, including around three million food prices. In addition, some 1,000 items of price data are gathered by centralised collection.