In December, Finland experienced its most moderate consumer price inflation in four years, primarily due to reduced utility costs, as reported by Statistics Finland on Tuesday.
The year-over-year increase in the consumer price index was 0.7 percent for December, a deceleration from November's 1.0 percent increase. This marks the least rapid inflation growth since December 2020, when a mere 0.2 percent uptick was recorded.
Statistics Finland attributed the inflation slowdown to a decline in average interest rates on housing loans and reduced electricity prices. Additionally, the annual decline in utility costs deepened to 1.0 percent in December from 0.11 percent in November. Price growth for clothing and footwear moderated to 0.98 percent from the previous 1.91 percent, while the rise in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages slowed to 0.51 percent.
The European Union's Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) showed a marginally slower year-over-year increase of 1.6 percent in December, compared to 1.7 percent in the prior month.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices decreased by 0.1 percent in December, following a 0.4 percent decline in November. For the entire year of 2024, the average annual inflation rate stood at 1.6 percent.
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