Swedish Inflation Steady At 6.5%

(RTTNews) - Sweden's consumer price inflation remained stable in October after easing in the previous two months, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Tuesday.

The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 6.5 percent year-over-year in October, the same as in September. Meanwhile, economists had expected inflation to rise to 6.7 percent.

Data showed that the consumer price index with a fixed interest rate, or CPIF, increased at a slightly faster pace of 4.2 percent annually in October versus 4.0 percent growth in the prior month. The expected rate was 4.3 percent.

The overall inflation in October mostly came from higher housing costs, which were mainly affected by interest rates for households' mortgages and actual rentals for housing, the agency said.

Food prices alone grew 6.7 percent annually in October, while electricity costs fell sharply by 27.7 percent. Fuel prices also showed a marked decline of 7.9 percent.

Month-on-month, consumer prices moved up 0.2 percent after rising 0.5 percent in September. Prices were expected to increase by 0.4 percent. The CPIF edged up 0.1 percent versus a 0.4 percent rebound a month ago.