STOCKHOM, Jan 13 — Inflation in Sweden surged to its highest point in three decades in December, fuelled by soaring electricity prices that have hit the cost of living, official figures showed Friday.
The consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to 12.3 per cent, up from 11.5 per cent in November, Statistics Sweden said, the highest figure since February 1991.
The main driver was the price of electricity, which rose 28.8 per cent in December compared to the month before and 45.3 per cent compared to a year earlier.
Sweden’s inflation adjusted for fixed interest rates (CPIF) — the figure used by Sweden’s central bank to guide monetary policy—jumped to 10.2 per cent on an annual basis, up from 9.5 per cent in November.
In a bid to counter soaring inflation, the Scandinavian country’s central bank has sharply hiked its key interest rate in recent months, from zero in April to 2.5 per cent currently, with its next monetary policy meeting scheduled for early February.
The bank has signalled that more increases are on the way.
Inflation has soared worldwide in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, prompting central banks to hike interest rates.
But it has now eased for a sixth consecutive in the United States, with data on Thursday showing the consumer price index slowing to 6.5 per cent in December. — AFP
