Consumer price index, 15 November 2003

The CPI stood at 112.6 (1998=100) in November 2003 compared with 111.0 in November last year. The growth in the CPI adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy products (CPI-ATE) came down to 0.5 per cent in November, the lowest year-to-year growth since the first one was published for August 2000.

Consumer prices up 0.2 per cent from October to November

The tariffs on electricity and the petrol prices are the largest contributors to the increase in the CPI. The electricity prices showed a seasonal increase of 7.2 per cent, while the cost connected to transporting energy stayed unchanged. The petrol prices rose by 1.4 per cent from last month. The CPI excluding energy products (CPI-AE) decreased by 0.3 per cent.

Airline fares fell from October to November and the decrease of 13.3 per cent may be explained by a new price concept from 26. October. A price fall was registered on different kinds of tickets.

Prices of alcoholic beverages went down by 4.0 per cent from October to November due to lower prices of beer. Throughout the autumn prices of beer have declined, and from October to November the prices dropped by 9.9 per cent.

Telephone- and audiovisual equipment as well as furniture showed a decline in prices from October to November.

Year-to-year change: Tariffs on electricity still the main contributor

The CPI has increased by 1.4 per cent from November 2002 to November 2003. As in previous months, the tariffs on electricity are the one dominating contributor to the year-to-year growth in the consumer prices. Even though the tariffs have shown decreasing growth rates since August this year, the tariffs are 19.5 per cent higher than the price level in last years . The growth in the CPI excluding electricity was 0.7 per cent in the same period, while CPI excluding energy products was 0.6 per cent.

The cost for owner-occupied housing and rentals for housing have increased by 4.0 and 3.9 per cent respectively since November last year. The food prices have gone up by 3.6 per cent and different services have increased considerably - prices of health services and insurance premiums have risen by 8.8 and 7.7 per cent respectively during the last 12 months.

As in previous months, the prices of clothing are the one most dominating factor counteracting the growth in the CPI. The prices are 13.4 per cent below the price level in November last year.

The prices of audiovisual equipment have fallen by 9.0 per cent and with a strong drop in the airline fares in November this year, they also contribute to dampen the CPI-growth on a year-to-year basis.

Smaller contributions come, among other things, from lower prices of telephone equipment and alcoholic beverages. Prices of alcoholic beverages have declined by 3.9 per cent and thereby contributed, unlike previous months this year, to a decrease in the total growth in the CPI the last 12 months.

Fall in the year-to-year growth

The year-to-year growth in the CPI went from 1.6 per cent in October to 1.4 per cent in November. The decrease is mainly due to airline fares as well as tariffs on electricity. Airline fares made a sharp drop of 13.3 per cent in November this year while the fares only declined marginally in November last year. The tariffs on electricity increased by 7.2 per cent in November this year compared to a rise of 10.3 per cent in November last year. The price development of alcoholic beverages also contributed to reduce the year-to-year change in November as the prices dropped by 4.0 per cent this year and showed no changes in prices last year.

The prices of petrol contributed in the opposite direction as the prices went up in November this year and down in the same period last year.

The CPI adjusted for tax changes (CPI-AT) decreased from 1.6 per cent in October to 1.3 per cent in November. The CPI-ATE went from 0.8 per cent and down to 0.5 per cent in the same period.