Consumer price index, 15 January 2012

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 130.4 (1998=100) as per January 2012, compared with 129.7 in January 2011. This was equivalent to a year-to-year growth of 0.5 per cent in January 2012, up 0.3 percentage points from December. The year-to year growth in the CPI adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy products (CPI-ATE) was 1.3 per cent in January 2012, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.

Sales on clothes and shoes in January

From December 2011 to January 2012, the CPI fell by 0.2 per cent. It was especially sales activity in clothing that contributed most to the decline. Prices of clothing fell by 9.3 per cent. Price reductions were registered for most categories of clothes, with the greatest reductions in women’s clothing. Footwear showed a price fall of 6.4 per cent. January sales for furniture, furnishings and decorations, carpets and other floor coverings led to a 7.0 per cent fall in prices. Book prices went down by 8.2 per cent, while audio-visual equipment was measured to have 1.8 per cent lower prices. Among other factors, decreased prices were also measured for package holidays and airline fares.

Higher energy prices contributed to dampen the fall in the CPI. Electricity prices including grid rent increased by 2.8 per cent from December to January as a result of higher spot prices and grid rent. Prices of fuels and lubricants went up by 3.6 per cent.

A rise in fees connected to transactions of payments led to the price of actual charges for financial services to go up by 4.2 per cent from December to January.

Prices of non-alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 1.4 and 2.1 per cent respectively from December 2011 to January 2012 and must be viewed in conjunction with updated taxes on tobacco and alcohol implemented on 1 January 2012. The CPI adjusted for tax changes (CPI-AT) fell by 0.4 per cent from December to January. Thus, the changes in taxes in isolation contributed to pulling up the CPI by 0.2 percentage points. The change is due to inflation-adjusted excise duties in combination with an increase in the VAT from 14 to 15 per cent on food and non-alcoholic beverages.

A rise in the actual rentals for housing and imputed rentals for owner-occupiers was measured for January. Among other consumption groups registered with increased prices were cultural services and non-alcoholic beverages. Increased prices were also measured for fees for before- and after-school care and kindergarten. See this separate article about kindergarten fees .

Weak year-to-year growth

The CPI increased by 0.5 per cent from January 2011 to January 2012. With price growth of 7.1 and 3.9 per cent respectively, fuels and lubricants together with maintenance and repair of personal transports were among the most important factors behind the growth in the CPI. This also applied to imputed rentals for owner occupiers and the price of actual charges for financial services, which increased by 1.6 and 6.0 per cent respectively from January last year to January this year.

The price of restaurant services went up by 3.7 per cent, thus contributing to the rise in the CPI. Increased prices of mineral water and soft drinks together with coffee made non-alcoholic beverages rise in price by 8.5 per cent. Prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco as a group went up by 3.3 per cent.

The year-to-year growth was dampened by a heavy fall in electricity prices including grid rent of 28.3 per cent from January 2011 to January 2012. Prices of audio-visual equipment continued to decrease on a year-to-year base with a decrease of 7.5 per cent.

Rise in the year-to-year growth

The year-to-year growth in the CPI grew from 0.2 per cent in December 2011 to 0.5 per cent in January 2012. The development in food prices was the main cause of the increase in the year-to-year growth. Food prices showed approximately no change from December 2011 to January 2012, while showing a distinct fall in the same period a year back. Other important factors to the increase in the year-to-year growth were the price development in actual charges for financial services and airline fares. Actual charges for financial services were registered with rising prices in January 2012, while a fall was measured in the same period last year. Airline fares fell less in January this year compared to January last year.

The year-to-year growth in the CPI-ATE was 1.3 per cent in January 2012, up 0.3 percentage points from December 2011.

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