Harmonized consumer price indexes, May 1997:

Norway has highest price inflation in Nordic countries

The Norwegian harmonized consumer price index, which is compiled for international price comparisons of price trends, rose by 2.8 per cent from May last year to May this year. Measured by the change over the past 12 months, Norway has the highest growth in consumer prices in the Nordic countries.

The change from April to May this year was 0.3 per cent in Norway. Figures for the Nordic countries showed a relatively wide spread, with Denmark showing the highest growth at 0.6 per cent and Sweden the lowest with 0.1 per cent.

Preliminary figures for the EU area show a 1.5 per cent rise in the total harmonized consumer price index from May last year to May this year. The 12-month growth rate was thus unchanged from April for the EU area. Greece is still the EU country with the highest rate of inflation in the last 12 months. The two countries with the smallest change are France and Finland.

The increase in coffee prices that has had an impact on the national consumer price index has also influenced the harmonized consumer price index, contributing to a higher 12-month growth rate for food in all Scandinavian countries. In Sweden, the price rise is offset for the most part by price cuts on other food. The decline is due to lower prices for fruit and vegetables this year compared to last year. This is in contrast to Denmark and Norway, where the prices of food have generally increased over the past 12 months.

New Statistics

Harmonized consumer price indexes, May 1997.
Statistics are published every month in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. More information: Åse Nossum, tel. +47 21 09 47 61, e-mail: nos@ssb.no or Lasse Sandberg, tel. +47 21 09 47 16, e-mail: san@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 28, 1997