HELSINKI: The year-on-year change in consumer prices as calculated by Statistics Finland stood at -0.2 per cent in July. The inflation was -0.1 per cent in June. The consumer prices changed by -0.2 per cent from June to July, the data show.
The slight decline in inflation was influenced, for example, by decreases in the consumer prices of liquid fuels, housing loan interest rates, and milk products and cheeses from one year ago. Consumer prices were raised in July by increases in rents and maintenance charges from one year ago. Compared to one year ago, the biggest decreases were recorded in the consumer prices of liquid fuels, housing loan interest rates, and milk products and cheeses.
During the month, the most rise was visible in the consumer prices of clothes and overnight stays at hotels. The biggest drop occurred in the consumer prices of vegetables, fruit and berries, and prescription and over-the-counter medicines. According to the preliminary data on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, the rate of inflation in the euro area was 0.2 per cent in July as it was in June.
The corresponding figure for Finland was -0.1 per cent in July. The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices does not include owner-occupancy, games of chance, interests on consumption and other credits, fire insurance on owner-occupied dwellings or the vehicle tax. The year-on-year change in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices stood at -0.1 per cent in July and that in the Index at Constant Taxes measuring market inflation at -0.3 per cent.
