Finland: Inflation stabilizes in September from August
Latest reading: Harmonized consumer prices rose 2.2% on a year-on-year basis in September, unchanged from the previous month’s reading.
Relative to the previous month’s figures, there were higher price pressures for transportation (-0.2% on a year-on-year basis vs -0.6% in August) and housing and utilities (+3.0% vs +1.3% in August). In contrast, there were reduced price pressures for food and non-alcoholic beverages (+2.5% vs +2.6% in August), recreation (+3.0% vs +3.4% in August) and restaurants and hotels (+1.4% vs +2.3% in August).
Meanwhile, consumer prices were up 0.5% in annual terms in September, unchanged from the previous month’s reading. The key difference between the harmonized and national consumer prices indices is that the national index accounts for both owner-occupied and rented housing, while the harmonized index includes only rented housing.
Lastly, harmonized consumer prices were up 0.46% in September in month-on-month terms, following a 0.27% decline in the previous month.