Inflation drops to 2.2% in March

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 2.2 per cent in March, according to Statistics Finland.

In February, inflation stood at 3.0 per cent. The decrease of inflation from February to March was caused by a milder rise in average interest rate on housing loans and by lower prices of electricity, for example.

Consumer prices were raised most in March 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 vegetables.

The month-on-month change of consumer prices was minus 0.1 per cent, which was mostly caused by lower prices of electricity.

The core inflation of Consumer Price Index was 4.0 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 2.4 per cent in March. In February, it stood at 2.6 per cent. The corresponding figure for Finland was 0.5 per cent in March.