Sweden's annual inflation hits 9.3% as food, fuel prices surge

Stockholm, Nov 16 In October, widespread price increases continued in Sweden for products such as food, in particular vegetables, and non-alcoholic beverages as the country's CPIF (Consumer Price Index with fixed interest rate) 12-month inflation rate stood at 9.3 per cent, down from 9.7 per cent in September, according to official figures.

Statistics Sweden said on Tuesday that the country's CPI (Consumer Price Index) reached 10.9 per cent in October as "increased interest expenses contributed with about 1.8 percentage point to the inflation rate", reports Xinhua news agency

"The inflation rate according to CPI was higher than according to CPIF because of the increased interest rates of mortgages. This effect is eliminated from CPIF," Caroline Neander, price statistician at Statistics Sweden, explained.

Fuel, electricity, food and non-alcoholic beverages were among the biggest contributors to the October inflation rate.

These products were 32.7 per cent, 25.6 per cent and 17.2 per cent, respectively, more expensive than in the same month a year ago.

In the category of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the increases in the price of meat, milk, eggs, cheese, bread and cereal were the most noteworthy.

In general, food prices account for around 15 per cent of Swedish households' budgets.

But for low-income households, this percentage tends to be significantly higher, Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported.