Inflation declines slightly in August

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 1.3 per cent in August, according to Statistics Finland.

In July, inflation stood at 1.4 per cent. The slight decline in inflation from July to August was due to lower prices of real estates, for example, said a press release.

Consumer prices were raised most in August by increases in the prices of petrol, cigarettes, capital repairs on detached house and electricity from one year ago.

The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of children's day care, real estates, refundable prescription medicines and mobile telephones. From July to August, consumer prices changed by 0.1 per cent.

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.