Doctor and patient at a reception in Espoo. Photo: Hanna Matikainen / Lehtikuva
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Consumer price inflation in Finland slowed to 0.2 percent in June, down from 0.5 percent in May, according to Statistics Finland. The biggest contributor to price increases was the health category, where costs rose 7.3 percent year-on-year.
Kristiina Nieminen, Senior Statistician at Statistics Finland, said the main factors were policy changes introduced at the start of the year.
“In healthcare, consumer prices rose due to increases in public outpatient and health centre fees, and changes to the Social Insurance Institution’s reimbursement system, such as higher co-payments for medicines,” Nieminen said.
A rise in the VAT rate on medicines from 10 to 14 percent also pushed up prices.
Food prices grew 1.2 percent on average in June. Nieminen said the upward trend that began earlier this year appeared to be levelling off.
“Price movements now vary widely depending on the product. There have been recent supply issues with minced beef. In June, beef was 11.4 percent more expensive than a year ago, while pork and poultry prices remained almost unchanged,” she said.
Fruit and berry prices were 12.1 percent higher than last June. In contrast, vegetable prices, which tend to reflect more domestic production, fell by 6.2 percent.
“Fresh produce prices usually fluctuate more than other food items, and that was the case again in June,” Nieminen added.
The harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), which allows for comparison across the EU, showed Finnish inflation at 1.9 percent in June.
Nieminen noted that differences between Finland’s national consumer price index and the HICP mainly stem from the inclusion of housing loan interest rates and consumer credit interest in the national index, which are excluded from the harmonised version.
“The fall in interest rates currently explains much of the gap between the two indicators,” she said.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
