Consumer price index, 15 February 2012

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 131.7 (1998=100) as per February 2012, compared with 130.2 in February 2011. This was equivalent to a year-to-year growth of 1.2 per cent in February 2012, up 0.7 percentage points from January. The year-to year growth in the CPI adjusted for tax changes and excluding energy products (CPI-ATE) was 1.3 per cent in February 2012, unchanged from the previous month.

Higher prices of energy and food

The CPI rose by 1.0 per cent from January to February 2012, mainly due to higher prices of electricity including grid rent and food, which increased by 7.4 and 2.1 per cent respectively. Higher electricity prices are caused by increased consumption of electricity due to cold weather combined with lower inflow in the water basins. Higher prices were registered for most of the food groups in February, particularly for fresh vegetables.

In February, the prices of furniture and clothing had an increase after the January sales. The prices of furniture, furnishings and decorations rose by 8.4 per cent, while the prices of clothing increased by 2.5 per cent. From January to February, the prices of transport services together with fuels and lubricants rose by 4.0 and 1.9 per cent respectively. Most of the transport services sub-groups showed higher prices this month, and it was airline fares together with the prices of passenger transportation by boat that increased most.

From January to February 2012, the prices of telephone services and books fell by 6.2 and 5.7 per cent respectively.

CPI up 1.2 per cent the last twelve months

The CPI rose by 1.2 per cent from February 2011 to February 2012. Several factors contributed to the year-to-year growth. Imputed rentals for owner occupiers and the prices of fuels and lubricants rose by 1.6 and 8.0 per cent respectively, while the prices of restaurant services and actual charges for financial services increased by 4.0 and 6.0 per cent respectively. Other important contributors to the growth were food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages and tobacco together with books.

The year-to-year growth was dampened by a price reduction of 17.6 per cent for electricity including grid rent. In the same period, the prices of audio-visual equipment and telephone services fell by 6.3 and 5.6 per cent respectively.

Increased year-to-year growth

The year-to-year growth in the CPI rose from 0.5 per cent in January to 1.2 per cent in February 2012, mainly caused by the price development in electricity. The prices of electricity including grid rent rose by 7.4 per cent from January to February 2012 compared to a price fall of 6.5 per cent in the same period last year. Other determining factors for the increased year-to-year growth were furniture, books, audio-visual equipment and clothing.

Tables

Published tables