Inflation drops to 3% in February

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 3.0 per cent in February, according to Statistics Finland.

In January, inflation stood at 3.3 per cent.

Consumer prices were raised most in February by increases in average interest rate on housing loans, consumer credits and the prices of package international holidays outside the EU 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 0.5 per cent, which was caused by higher prices of district heat and package international holidays, for example.

The core inflation of Consumer Price Index was 4.9 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.