Sweden Consumer Prices Unexpectedly Fall 0.1%

(RTTNews) - Sweden's consumer prices decreased for the first time in six years in April amid a sharp fall in food costs, flash data from Statistics Sweden showed on Wednesday.

The consumer price index, or CPI, dropped 0.1 percent year-over-year in April, reversing March's increase of 0.5 percent. Further, this was the first decrease since April 2020. Meanwhile, economists had expected an increase of 0.3 percent.

"Preliminary numbers show a decrease in food prices by 5.5 percent from March to April," Sofie Ohman, statistician at Statistics Sweden, said.

Inflation based on the consumer price index with a fixed interest rate moderated to 0.8 percent in April from 1.6 percent a month ago.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices decreased 0.6 percent versus an expected fall of 0.2 percent.

The final data for the month of April is set to publish on May 13.