The battle against inflation continues, economists say, but the future looks promising.
Inflation remains persistent, but increases in the price level on a monthly basis show signs of slowing. Prices continued to rise in many commodity groups, but food prices declined significantly in April compared to the previous month, Jukka Appelqvist, chief economist at the Central Chamber of Commerce, said in an article published on the organization’s website.
Annual inflation is currently being mitigated by cheaper gasoline and other fuels.
– The price impact of petrol turned negative on an annual basis for the first time in March. Appelqvist says that the same trend continued in April, as it is likely to continue from now on.
On weekends, 95E gasoline costs around 1.8 euros per litre, for example, in Hyvinkää and Lohja, according to data collected from the website Bensanhinta.com. In some places you can get diesel cheaper than petrol.
If you compare with two years ago, fuel is expensive, but it is cheaper than a year ago, Tero Kallio, CEO of Autotuojat ja -teollisuus ry
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Kallio thinks it is quite possible that we will see a further increase of 1.6-1.7 euros in fuel prices in the summer. No immediate value-adding factors are in sight, although the world political situation is uncertain due to the war.
According to the latest data from Statistics Finland, consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent in April compared to the previous month. Annual inflation remained unchanged at 7.9 per cent.
Domestic inflation reading is currently very poor due to the impact of loan interest rates. An increase in mortgage interest rates does not indicate an increase in the price level in the same way that an increase in the prices of other services or goods does. The situation is a bit dire, says Appelqvist, because interest rates are rising precisely because the central bank is trying to tame inflation.
Read more: Consumer prices rose slightly in April compared to the previous month – one reason is the rise in interest rates
So the fight against inflation continues.
– Right now it looks promising that inflation may be coming down, especially without the impact of interest rates. It is still not clear how soon normalcy will be reached. Although the pace of wage growth in Finland is moderate from the point of view of export price competitiveness, rising wages in Finland will also raise consumer prices in the future, which will partly make it difficult to curb inflation, he says.
