Consumer price index, 15 June 2003

The CPI stood at 112.0 (1998=100) in June this year in comparison with 110.1 in June last year. The decrease in the year-to-year change in the CPI and the CPI-ATE of 0.4 percentage points is mainly due to the price developments of different services connected to recreation and housing as well as imported consumer goods. The prices of energy products counteracted each other to a large extent as the electricity tariffs continued to decline and the petrol prices increased.

Consumer prices down 0.3 per cent from May to June

Since the end of last year the tariffs on electricity have played a very dominant role in the development of the CPI. After a continuous decline in the tariffs since January this year, the tariffs fell further by 4.0 per cent from May to June. The prices of liquid and solid fuels decreased as well.

The prices of package holidays dropped since last survey in June last year and became an important contributor to the decrease in the CPI from May to June.

Early start of summer sales caused the prices of clothing and footwear to decline by 1.9 per cent in June. The prices of clothing fell the most by 2.2 per cent. There were also registered some sale activity for furniture, household textiles as well as household appliances. The car prices showed also a slight price decrease from May to June.

The food prices increased on average by 0.8 per cent in June mainly due to higher prices of fresh vegetables.

After a price decline in April and May, the prices of petrol rose by 1.3 per cent. Also the taxi fares showed some price increase in June.

Rentals for housing and costs for owner-occupied housing increased in June by 0.3 and 0.2 per cent respectively.

Year-to-year change: Tariffs on electricity contributed to price growth

The CPI increased by 1.7 per cent from June 2002 to June 2003. The tariffs on electricity are still the main single contributor to the growth in the consumer prices. Despite a price decrease of 41.7 per cent from January to June, the tariffs are as much as 26.1 per cent higher in June this year compared with the same period last year. During the last 12 months the CPI excluding electricity increased by 0.8 per cent.

An increase in the rentals for housing and costs for owner-occupied housing by 4.0 and 3.9 per cent respectively from June last year to June this year contributed to the growth in the consumer prices. So did the prices of food and alcoholic beverages, which increased by 3.7 per cent.

Higher insurance premiums also contributed to the year-to-year growth in the consumer prices with an increase of 7.8 per cent. The same applies to the prices of newspapers, books and stationery as well as health services.

The prices of clothing counteracted the growth in the consumer prices in June with a decline of 13.6 per cent. In addition, a decrease of 9.0 per cent in the prices of audiovisual equipment was registered on a year-to-year basis.

The year-to-year change in the CPI-ATE was 0.8 per cent in June. The low growth rate can be summed up by lower prices of imported consumer goods such as clothing, audiovisual equipment and motor cars, as well as lower prices and a decreasing rise in the prices of different services connected to recreation and housing.

Decrease in the year-to-year growth

The year-to-year growth in the CPI went from 2.1 per cent in May to 1.7 per cent in June. The decline in the year-to-year growth was mainly caused by the price development of package holidays as the prices dropped in June this year while June last year had a price increase. Also the electricity tariffs and the prices of clothing and motor cars contributed to the decline. As did the rentals, which showed a stronger increase in June last year compared with the same period this year. The petrol prices counteracted this development as the prices showed a decline in June last year in comparison to an increase in June this year.

The CPI adjusted for tax changes (CPI-AT) fell from 2.0 per cent in May to 1.6 per cent in June. The CPI-ATE dropped from 1.2 per cent to 0.8 per cent in the same period.