Inflation at 1.2 per cent in June

Consumer prices were up by 1.2 per cent in the year to June. This is a slight increase from the 1.0 per cent inflation rate in May. From May to June the increase in prices amounted to 0.2 per cent. This appears from Statistics Finland´s Consumer Price Index.

Price development in the year

The highest price rise in the year was in housing, up by 2.9 per cent. The price rise was due above all to the increase in the prices of dwellings. Higher rents, higher maintenance fees in owner-occupied dwellings, as well as electricity charges and more expensive light fuel oil also contributed to the price rise in housing. Altogether these commodities fuelled inflation by 0.8 percentage points.

The price of coffee rose 27 per cent in twelve months, which increased the inflation rate by more than 0.1 percentage points. Price rises in alcoholic beverages and cigarettes also increased consumer prices to some extent.

Inflation was curbed most by cuts in interest rates for housing and consumer loans. Cheaper fruits and vegetables also restrained the rise in consumer prices.

cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"

Price development over the year, %
Prices that rose most 6/1996-6/1997		Prices that fell most 6/1996-6/1997
Coffee	27.4	Cabbage	35.2
Prices of dwellings	17.5	Computer games	30.5
Greenery	14.8	Cucumber	27.4
Light fuel oil	11.3	Shrimps	19.1
Honey	10.0	Consumer loan interest rates	12.7

Price development from May to June

Consumer prices rose from May to June by 0.2 per cent. The rise was caused above all by more expensive coffee, petrol and beer. The advent of summer also caused prices of package holidays to rise.

The rise in consumer prices was curbed in June above all by the fall in the prices of fresh vegetables, especially tomatoes, paprika and cucumbers. The price of light fuel oil fell slightly, interest rates continued to fall, and special summer rates lowered the prices of domestic flights.

Over 40 000 prices are collected for the consumer price index from about 2 000 outlets each mid-month. In addition, price data on some 600 items are gathered by centralised collection.

cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"

Inflation indicators in Finland
	Point figure	Change on one year	Change on one month
Consumer Price Index (1990=100), June	114.2	1.2 %	0.2 %
Cost Of Living Index (1951:10=100), June	1 417
Harmonised Consumer Price Index of the EU (1996=100), June	101.4	1.1 %	0.2 %
Indicator of underlying inflation (1990=100), May	112.3	0.5 %	0.3 %

Harmonised consumer price index of the EU

The point figure of the harmonised consumer price index of the EU (1996=100) was 101.4 per cent in June and the year-on-year change 1.1 per cent. From May to June the index rose by 0.2 per cent.

In May the inflation rate in Finland and France was the lowest in the EU, at 0.9 per cent, as measured by the harmonised consumer price index. The average inflation rate in the EU in May was 1.5 per cent.

Source: Consumer Price Index, June 1997. Statistics Finland
Further information: Mr Ilkka Lehtinen, tel. +358 9 1734 3478