Housing prices went up particularly due to increases in interest rates and rents, while food prices were raised primarily by higher prices for meat, milk products and non-alcoholic beverages.
Inflation had slowed in February, mainly because of less steep rises in energy prices. From February to March, consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent, which was above all due to the ending of early-year clothing sales.
Finnish price rises for March look to be slightly above those for Europe in general. Preliminary data suggests that the rate of inflation for the eurozone as a whole was 2.6%.