Why you should celebrate the inflation announcement
11/14/2023, 4:44:01 PM
Highlights: Underlying inflation, which excludes interest rates and energy prices, fell in October. Biggest price increase is for tomatoes, which cost 17 percent more than in September. Food prices, on the other hand, rebounded in October, although as usual there were large differences between different product groups. The probability that the Riksbank will raise the interest rate again in just over a week decreases drastically, says SVT's economic commentator Alexander Norén. The biggest price increase in October was for tomatoes.
The fact that prices in Sweden stubbornly continue to rise – despite the Riksbank's attempts to slow down with interest rate hikes – may not sound like a reason to uncork the bubble. But it is.
The reason why today's inflation announcement is good news is that underlying inflation, which excludes interest rates and energy prices, actually fell in October. From 6.9 percent to 6.1 percent – and that was exactly the message many had hoped for.
"This means that the probability that the Riksbank will raise the interest rate again in just over a week decreases drastically," says SVT's economic commentator Alexander Norén.
Food prices, on the other hand, rebounded in October, although as usual there were large differences between different product groups.
Vegetables went up by 3.2 per cent and fruit by 1.4 per cent. The biggest price increase is for tomatoes, which cost 17 percent more than in September. Fresh salmon, on the other hand, became 18 per cent cheaper.