Food prices fell 3.0 per cent last month

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped 0.4 per cent from November to December 2015, mostly due to lower food prices. The year-to-year growth in the CPI was 2.3 per cent in December, down 0.5 percentage points from November.

The year-to-year CPI-ATE growth was 3.0 per cent in December. The CPI was 141.1 (1998=100) in December 2015, compared to 137.9 in December 2014, which corresponds to a year-to-year growth of 2.3 per cent. Annual growth in the CPI was 2.1 per cent for 2015, while it was 2.7 per cent for the annual CPI-ATE.

Monthly change: food and electricity prices pulled the monthly change down

The CPI fell 0.4 per cent from November to December, mostly due to a decline in food prices of 3.0 per cent. This is the largest drop in monthly food prices since the VAT change on food in July 2001. Price decreases were measured for multiple products, especially for Christmas-related products such as chocolate, pork, clementines, rice pudding and almonds. Electricity prices including grid rent fell 3.5 per cent from November to December.

The decline in the CPI was mainly dampened by a price increase of 6.5 per cent for the group newspapers, books and stationary. The price of furniture and furnishings rose 2.2 per cent from November to December.

Year-to-year growth: price growth for furniture continues

The CPI rose 2.3 per cent from December 2014 to December 2015. Furniture and household equipment was the largest contributor to the year-to-year growth with a price increase of 6.7 per cent. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 2.4 per cent from December 2014 to December 2015. Other contributing factors were price increases of newspapers, books and stationary, and restaurant services.

The year-to-year growth in the CPI was mainly dampened by lower electricity prices. Electricity prices including grid rent fell 6.1 per cent. The price development in petrol and auto diesel, which fell 3.1 and 6.6 per cent respectively, also dampened the growth in the CPI.

Change in the year-to-year growth: electricity prices pulled the growth rate down

The year-to-year growth in the CPI decreased from 2.8 per cent in November to 2.3 per cent in December. The decreased growth rate was mainly due to the development in prices of electricity including grid rent, which fell 3.5 per cent from November to December, while increasing 4.5 per cent in the same period in 2014.
The price development in fuels and lubricants pulled the growth rate in the opposite direction, as prices fell less from November to December 2015 than for the same period the year before.

The year-to-year growth in the CPI-ATE was 3.0 per cent in December; down 0.1 percentage point from November. This was mainly due to the aforementioned development in food prices.

Source: SSB / Norway Today  / Photo Norway Today Media