Inflation reduces slightly to 1.2% in December

The year-on-year change in consumer prices calculated by Statistics Finland was 1.2 per cent in December, according to Statistics Finland.

In November, inflation stood at 1.3 per cent. Inflation slowed down above all because the rising of liquid fuel and electricity prices eased off. In 2018, the average inflation rate was 1.1 per cent.

Consumer prices were raised most in December by increases in the prices of cigarettes, electricity and fuels and capital repair on detached house from one year ago.

The rising of consumer prices from one year back was curbed most by reductions in the prices of child day care, mobile phones, used cars, televisions and detached houses. From November to December, the month-on-month change of consumer prices was -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.