• In March, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages were 5.4 percent higher compared to March 2024.
• Electricity prices decreased by 9.5 percent from February to March and were 3.1 percent lower than 12 months ago.
• Fuel prices declined by 5.5 percent from February to March and were 12.1 percent lower than March last year.
• After a long period with price increases on package holidays, they now have a negative annual rate.
• The yearly book sale contributed to a 22.5 percent decrease in book prices from February to March and the prices fell with 9.5 percent compared to March last year.

Electricity- and fuel prices fell in March

The total price development from February to March was a decline with 0.7 percent. In the corresponding period last year, prices increased by 0.1 percent.

Electricity prices and interest expenses fell from February to March, which contributed to lower housing costs. In addition, the prices of package holidays, fuels and home-electronics* decreased. The prices of books fell slightly more than they usually do at the time of the book sale.

The decline was slowed down by higher prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages as well as higher prices for car rentals.

*Home- electronics - Audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment, according to COICOP- standard

The table below shows changes on a monthly basis and contributions to the CPI based on the goods and services that had the greatest impact on the CPI in February 2025. The results are presented by COICOP category. COICOP refers to the United Nations classification of household consumption expenditure.

Contributions to the inflation rate in March

The inflation rate according to the CPI, that is, the change in the CPI from the same month last year, was 0.5 percent in March 2025. This is a decrease from February, when the inflation rate was 1.3 percent.

The inflation rate in March was affected by higher prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages. Prices for coffee, chocolate and dairy products had a major impact. Prices on restaurant visits and miscellaneous goods and services also increased. Additionally, prices for clothing and footwear have increased but had the lowest annual rate since December 2020.

The inflation rate was offset by lower fuel prices and lower housing costs, where electricity prices and interest expenses had a clear downward impact. On the other hand, there were higher rents for rental apartments and higher monthly rates for tenant-owned apartments.

The inflation rate according to the CPIF, which unlike the CPI is not affected by changes in interest rates on household mortgages, was 2.3 per cent in March, which was a decrease from 2.9 percent in February.

The inflation rate according to CPIF calculated excluding energy products (CPIF-XE) was 3.0 percent in March which was unchanged since February.

Different measures of inflation

Statistics Sweden calculates different inflation measures for different purposes. The CPIF is the Riksbank’s target variable, while CPI is the measure used for purposes of compensation. The CPIF includes the same goods and services as CPI. The difference between the CPI and the CPIF is that the latter measure holds interest rates for household’s mortgages constant. Consequently, the effect of changed interest rates for household’s mortgages is only captured by the CPI and not the CPIF.

Additional to the CPI and the CPIF, the HICP is also calculated. The HICP is a harmonized measure of inflation used within the EU cooperation. Another index that is calculated each month is CPIF-XE (the CPIF excluding energy products) which is often used as a measure of underlying inflation.