Inflation climbs in Sept

The year-on-year change in consumer prices calculated by Statistics Finland was 0.8 per cent in September.

According to Statistics Finland, in August inflation was 0.7 per cent. The slight rise in inflation was caused by higher prices of liquid fuels.

Consumer prices were raised most in September from one year ago by increases in the consumer prices of the vehicle tax, electricity, petrol and cigarettes. The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of mobile phones, games of chance and used cars and decreases in housing loan interest rates. From August to September, consumer prices changed by 0.2 per cent, which was mainly caused by the risen price of petrol.

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 centralised collection.

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 September. In August it stood also at 1.5 per cent. The corresponding figure for Finland in September was 0.8 per cent.

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.

Eurostat’s estimate of inflation in the euro area is based on preliminary data from the Member States and on the price development of energy. Eurostat will publish detailed data on Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices for September on 17 October. Information of inflation in EU countries is available on Eurostat homepage, (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main).

The year-on-year change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at 0.8 per cent in September and that in the Index at Constant Taxes measuring market inflation at 0.7 per cent. Over twelve months, the combined raising impact on consumer prices from changes in commodity tax rates was thus 0.1 percentage points. The month-on-month change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices was 0.2 per cent and that in the Index at Constant Taxes 0.2 per cent in September.

The inflation measured by Consumer Price Index consists mainly of products and services priced by enterprises and the public sector, and value added and commodity taxes. Some 25 per cent of the private consumption described by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) consists of value added or other taxes.

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices at Constant Taxes (HICP-CT) is based on the HICP so the two indices have the same weight structure and price data. HICP-CT is calculated with a method which holds the tax rate constant relative to the reference period. When tax changes take place, the impact of the tax change on commodity prices is eliminated from HICP-CT. The price impact of the tax changes is obtained by comparing the development of the HICP and HICP-CT.