Sweden’s consumer price inflation has softened more-than-expected in February after accelerating in the prior month.
The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 4.5 per cent year-over-year in February, slower than the 5.45 increase seen in January.
Economists had expected the inflation to ease to 4.7 per cent.
Data showed that the consumer price index with a fixed interest rate, or CPIF, increased at a weaker pace of 2.5 per cent manually in February versus 3.3 per cent growth in the prior month.
The expected consumer price rate was 2.8 per cent.
However, the inflation was well above central bank Riksbank’s target of 2 per cent.
Annual price growths in food and non-alcoholic beverages eased to 1.17 per cent from 3.8 per cent.
Utility costs grew at a slower pace of 9.42 per cent versus a 10.05 per cent surge in January.
The growth in the utility cost was due to a 12.7 per cent slump in electricity charges.
Meanwhile, transport charges rose at a faster pace of 1.48 per cent.
Month-on-month, consumer prices moved up 0.2 per cent in February, reversing a 0.1 per cent drop in the prior month.
The expected rebound was 0.3 per cent, Core consumer prices were also increased by 0.2 per cent.
