Inflation slightly drops to 7.9% in March

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 7.9 per cent in March, according to Statistics Finland.

In February, inflation stood at 8.8 per cent. The decrease of inflation from February to March was caused by lower prices of petrol and diesel and by a milder rise in electricity prices, for example.

Consumer prices were raised most in March by increases in average interest rate on housing loans, the prices of electricity and increases in consumer credits from one year ago.

The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of petrol, diesel and light fuel oil.

The month-on-month change of consumer prices was 0.6 per cent, which was caused by increases in average interest rate on housing loans, for example.

The core inflation of Consumer Price Index was 7.1 per cent. Core inflation does not include food and energy price changes, as the short-term price fluctuations are higher compared to other commodity groups.