Inflation increases to 2.2% in May

The year-on-year change in consumer prices was 2.2 per cent in May, according to Statistics Finland.

In April, inflation stood at 2.1 per cent. Among other things, the development of fuel prices explains the increase in inflation.

From last May to this May, increases in the prices of petrol, diesel, detached houses and capital repair on detached houses had the largest upward impacts on the consumer price index.

Decreases in the prices of long-distance train journeys, regular ferry service and beer sold in restaurants and the average interest rates on housing loans and consumer credit had the largest downward impacts.

From April to May, consumer prices rose by 0.2 per cent, which was partly due to a rise in the prices of owner-occupied housing and games of chance.

Each mid-month, Statistics Finland's interviewers collect altogether 19,000 prices on nearly 400 commodities from about 2,100 outlets for the Consumer Price Index. The price data is supplemented with scanner data wherefrom 5 million individual prices are included into calculation. In addition, some 1,000 items of price data are gathered by centralised collection.