Annual Inflation In Finland Slowed Down To 6.8% In May - Statistical Office

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th June, 2023) Annual inflation in Finland slowed down from 7.9% in April to 6.8% in May, which is still an almost 40-year record due to increased mortgage rates, the Finnish statistical office, Statistics Finland, said on Wednesday.

The last time consumer prices in Finland rose so rapidly was in October 1983.

"Consumer prices were raised most in May by increases in average interest rate on housing loans, the prices of electricity and increases in consumer credits from one year ago," Statistics Finland said.

Lower prices for petrol and an insignificant rise in electricity prices were named as the key drivers for the inflation slowdown.

"The month-on-month change of consumer prices was 0.3 per cent, which was caused by increases in average interest rate on housing loans, for example," the statistical body said.

The preliminary Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), the European Union's benchmark, amounted to 6.1% year-over-year in the euro area in May and 7% in April. Finland's HICP stood at 5%. It does not include interests on loans.

Juha Keskinen, an economist at the Hypo private mortgage bureau, said the long-awaited "price relief" had come.