Inflation in Belgium amounts to 8.05%
Consumer price index for January 2023
Inflation decreased from 10.35% to 8.05% in January.
The consumer price index increased by 0.12 points or 0.09% this month.
Inflation based on the health index has fallen from 10.63% to 8.28%.
The smoothed health index amounted to 125.26 points in January.
Inflation for food products has sharply increased in recent months. Food inflation (including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 15.59%. The contribution of food products to inflation currently amounts to 2.95 percentage points.
Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.05% in January, compared to 7.34% in December. This is due to the increase in inflation for processed food products and services.
The most significant price increases in January were registered for bread and cereals, dairy products, health insurances, meat, non-alcoholic beverages, fire insurances, nursing care, personal care, bundled telecommunication services and fruit. However, natural gas and electricity have had a decreasing effect on the index.
Inflation amounts to 8.05% in January compared to 10.35% in December and 10.63% in November. Inflation based on the health index amounted to 8.28% this month compared to 10.63% in December and November. Inflation without energyincreased to 8.61%, compared to 7.89% in December and 7.80% in November. Core inflation, which does not take into account price evolutions of energy products and unprocessed food, stands at 8.05% in January, compared to 7.34% in December and 7.16% in November.
With regard to energy, we see a new decrease in inflation this month. It now stands at 5.21%, compared to 32.88% last month. This is due to the sharp increase in energy inflation observed in January 2022 (inflation being a measure related to the previous year) and a decrease in electricity and natural gas prices compared to last month. For electricity, inflation currently stands at 2.8% compared to 35.5% last month. For natural gas, it went from 73.1% last month to -7.1% this month. Compared to last month, natural gas prices decreased by 27.7% and those for electricity by 8.6%. Prices for domestic heating oil, calculated based on a smoothed 12-month moving average, have increased by 46.7% in a year. Motor fuels cost 2.8% more than in January last year and increased by 0.7% this month compared to the previous month.
Inflation for services has increased to 6.56% up from 5.80%. Inflation for rents has risen from 4.98% to 5.93%. Food inflation(including alcoholic beverages) now stands at 15.59% compared to 14.53% last month. This inflation has increased sharply in recent months. In January last year, it was still 2.26%.
In particular, inflation for oils, fish, dairy products, bread and cereals and meat has sharply increased in recent months. Inflation for oils stands this month at 28.2%. In January 2022, it was still 6.8%. For fish, inflation is now 15.0% compared to 1.6% in January 2022. Inflation for dairy products amounts to 24.6% this month compared to 2.4% in January 2022. For bread and cereals, inflation stands at 18.3% this month compared to 4.5% in January last year. Inflation for meat amounts to 13.8% this month compared to 1.9% in January 2022.
The price of natural gas has decreased by 27.7% on average compared to the previous month. The price of electricity has decreased by 8.6% on average this month.
Source: Statbel
