Inflation drops slightly to 3.3% in January

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 3.3 per cent in January, according to Statistics Finland.

In December, inflation stood at 3.6 per cent.

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

The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of electricity, children's day care and petrol.

The month-on-month change of consumer prices was 0.3 per cent, which was caused by higher prices of electricity and general hospital fee, for example.

The core inflation of Consumer Price Index was 5.4 per cent. Core inflation does not include food and energy price changes, as the short-term price fluctuations in these are higher compared to other commodity groups.

According to the preliminary data on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the rate of inflation in the euro area was 2.8 per cent in January. In December, it stood at 2.9 per cent. The corresponding figure for Finland was 1.1 per cent in January.

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.