HELSINKI: Finland’s consumer price inflation accelerated in February to the highest level in nearly two-and-a-half years, figures from Statistics Finland showed Tuesday.
The consumer price index climbed 1.2 percent year-over-year in February, faster than the 0.8 percent increase in January. The measure has been rising since April 2016.
Moreover, the latest inflation was the highest since September 2014, when prices had grown 1.3 percent.
Inflation was mainly driven by increases in the prices of liquid fuels, cigarettes, the vehicle tax and electricity from a year ago, the agency said.
Transport costs grew 4.5 percent annually in February and clothing and footwear prices went up by 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages registered a decline of 0.5 percent.
Month-on-month, consumer prices increased 0.5 percent from January, when it fell by 0.6 percent.
The EU measure of inflation, or HICP, rose 1.4 percent annually and by 0.7 percent monthly in February.
